


Karry Prime: Embracing Destiny

by KarryBeta, KarryMaster



Series: Karry Prime [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Earth One Kara, F/M, Karry Prime, Prime Earth, Season/Series 03, The Millma Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-06 19:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 69,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15201458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarryBeta/pseuds/KarryBeta, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarryMaster/pseuds/KarryMaster
Summary: After the events of Flash's second season, Barry's life is turned upside-down when the clone of Kara Zor-El comes crashing back into his life. Discover what happens when Kara Wells learns about her past and her powers, and how Barry's feelings toward her affects their friendship. But danger always lurks for Power Girl and the Flash. - Alt. Flash season 3. Adult themes.





	1. Kara's Intervention

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of my Karry Prime epic. This will follow Kara's journey from being just a clone to a full fledged Superhero - with some help from Barry Allen. 
> 
> Facebook: FanFiction Millma Verse.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the death of his father in the second season finale, Barry considers traveling back in time and saving his mother, however his plans are prevented by the arrival of Kara. Earth-3's Jay Garrick also returns, and Jesse Wells is suffering back on Earth-2.

Barry sat on the steps to the West household. He'd just rejected Iris and he wasn't too sure why. He had an idea in his head of what he wanted to do, where he was going to go, but his sudden grief consumed him enough not to be able to stand up. He'd lost his mom so long ago and now his dad was gone; yes, he had his adoptive family and all his friends – back inside the house behind him actually – but he'd never at this moment felt so alone.

True, there was the doppelganger of his dad out there on Earth-3… or was it Earth-5 now? Jay might have called it Earth-3, but Barry had been to two other Earths before learning about Jay's Earth. This numbering was getting ridiculous, he really needed to talk to Cisco about what names to give these other Earths now so many were turning up. If Cisco was still working at STAR Labs after what he was about to do.

He stood, the sudden resolution of the task ahead of him laying heavy as his mind tried to fast-track to what he'd come back to: Save his mother, stop Eobard Thawne, and return to what? The real Harrison Wells alive, maybe with his own Jesse? His dad was sure to still be around, and with his mother now alive. Would Joe have sought out Francine again in this new timeline, without Barry to look after? Iris could have known her brother, her true brother, longer than in this current timeline. Yes, there were more pros to this than cons, Barry was sure.

"Harry left?!" The voice distracted Barry to the point of being a physical barrier, he collapsing as he turned on the spot with speed to the originator of the question: a blond in a black outfit.

Dressed like Alex had been when he'd said goodbye to her the first time, the clone of Kara Danvers stood a few feet away, arms crossed in indignation, her now short-cut-hair waving ever so pleasantly in the evening breeze, but there was a fierce look of anger in her eyes as she marched a few steps closer to Barry and asked atop of the previous question: "Why wasn't I informed? I could at least have said goodbye to him."

"Kara…" Barry swallowed, all previous thoughts drowned from his mind now as he looked her up and down once more, a hand flying to the back of his head to rub the nape of his neck in worry. He had nearly forgotten all about the clone in his single-minded vengeance against Zoom. "I… we… where were you?" It was a new thought, but it suddenly sparked a new well of emotions. A woman with powers like hers – super strength, laser eyes and freeze breath to say the least – could have saved his dad, could have helped him stop Zoom, would have prevented his friends locking him up for not having a clear head.

"My dad died and you… you weren't there!" He suddenly found himself shouting, pointing randomly behind himself in emotion, causing Kara to look to him in shock, obviously not expecting that. "Zoom killed my dad just to… to prove a point. You could have stopped him. We could have stopped him together!"

"Barry, I… I didn't know." Her anger at her foster dad leaving without her had lessened for the fact that Barry's real dad had left for good; the ferociousness of her features softened to a sudden well of tears herself as she moved over to Barry, whose own emotions had been held at bay since that fateful night and had suddenly come to a peak as he collapsed into her arms. "I didn't know." She repeated simply, softly and soothingly. She herself hugging Barry as best she could while supporting most of his weight.

Barry could hear movement and realised his shouting must have alerted the West household, for next thing he knew, he was being led back into Joe's house; Kara by his side, Joe on his other side, and was on the sofa long before he properly realised what had happened.

"Nice to see you again, Kara." Joe pointed out kindly as she sat next to Barry on the seat. "But maybe a phone call next time?"

"I don't have a cell," Kara replied simply, her eyes remaining on Barry as Iris joined them, perching on the coffee table.

"He's been through a lot. I thought he was doing okay…" Iris stared at Barry, who had a hand over his face now to hide the tears streaming from his eyes, the weakness he felt they shouldn't see, but didn't react to being talked about as if he wasn't there.

"Zoom killed his dad" Kara stated, somewhat bluntly, "he just told me. If I'd have known…" She looked around, taking note of Cisco, Caitlin and a boy she didn't know by the dining table, looking awkwardly at the new scene in front of them, before back to the shielded Barry. "I've been training, learning, becoming more human. Alex and Lyla have taught me a lot, but had I had known, had they told me…"

"ARGUS likes to keep their secrets." Cisco pointed out from behind her, Kara nodding silently as she locked eyes with Iris, both women concerned for the speedster now.

"They should have told me," Kara mumbled but knew Cisco was right as she looked at Barry, wondering what she could do to make him better.

Iris had never seen Barry like this, even after his mother died, even after stopping Eobard. He was still more-or-less himself when his back had been broken, even if he'd lost confidence then. He'd become a recluse after their somewhat-victory against the older speedster last year, but this time it was different, he had been involved so emotionally. He'd let the fake Jay Garrick into their lives, had trusted him with Caitlin and as a result had let Zoom into their very back pocket enough to know all of their weaknesses and exploit them in a way Eobard never thought to do, even up to his final moments.

Barry was broken.

-PowerFlash-

He hadn't argued when Joe had forced Barry to go to bed and rest – he'd exhausted himself far more than any speeding could. Emotional exhaustion was so much worse than the physical. This wasn't something Barry could outrun; this was something he had to accept.

Kara found she didn't want to leave his bedside, but with him falling asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow, there was very little else for her to do, so found she joined the rest of the team in the living area, all with various expressions of worry on their faces. Hers joined the fray, but she couldn't keep quiet as she addressed Joe, speaking as formally as possible.

"Why did nobody call me? I honestly could have helped. I could have saved his dad and at least said goodbye to Harry before he left…" From the reactions of most of those gathered, it suddenly became very obvious that Kara had been the last person in their thoughts that fateful day, and Kara suddenly felt more deflated than before, letting off a simple "oh" as she sat resolutely on the arm of the sofa.

"It's not that we didn't think of you." Caitlin quickly interjected. "It's just we had a million other thoughts going on and you were still in training…" Caitlin stopped speaking, not really sure where she was going with this. Truthfully, there was no excuse for not calling Kara. Well, maybe herself being trapped by Zoom was an excuse for her, but she was unsure why no one else ever thought of it. When Barry was powerless and there were thousands of metas from Earth-2 rampaging the city they could have used the super powered clone even if she was still training.

"We didn't know if you would be up to facing off Jay – I mean Hunter – and Henry's death was so sudden. Zoom just took him…" Cisco's voice drifted off, he remembering just how sudden, how awful that had been. That day had started so well, too.

"I still could have done something. I hate to see Barry like this, it just reminds me of when I was created, of him being trapped in that place, so helpless." She bit her lip as silence fell over the room.

"I'm sorry, and I get the situation is dire, but who exactly are you?" The young black boy spoke up from next to Cisco, and Caitlin and Kara looked to him dumbstruck.

Joe and Iris however reacted quickly; one getting up and moving to the boy, the other clapping a hand of their forehead in realisation. "Wally. This is Kara," Joe stated simply, he being the one to move to him. "She a… friend of Barry's." That was the easiest explanation in the current situation.

"I'm a clone of a friend of Barry's," Kara corrected simply, not realizing Joe was trying to keep it simple. After all, she had long since accepted her start in life, blessing each day that was granted to her that she could simply exist. "He travelled to another Earth, as the Flash, and came into contact with that Earth's version of me, came back with a DNA sample and bumped into a meta-human who could clone others. I came from that DNA sample." She gave him a very polite smile, which he responded, if a bit confused.

"She's also an alien," Cisco pointed out, the same smile on his face as he always had when he thought of that.

"Ninety-five percent of one actually," Kara corrected to the sudden concern of Cisco and Caitlin. "I guess the five percent is linked back to Duplicate, my creator." She added the last for Wally's benefit, "but it hasn't stopped my enhanced abilities. I'm still super strong, superfast, invulnerable to practically anything, my eyes shoot laser beams and I can see with X Ray vision… yeah, the whole works." She couldn't help but grin at this herself; since training with her powers she had come to love them.

"And the freeze breath Barry admired?" Cisco asked simply.

"Yeah, that too," she leaned back on the arm of the chair as she added thoughtfully, "and the flying and enhanced hearing…" She then fell into silence.

"I can see how you would have been of great help against Zoom," Wally pointed out, almost admirably as Kara nodded to him. If he had managed to help, even a little, against the speedster, then this girl would have been a major advantage in the battle against Zoom.

"I still wouldn't have been able to save his dad, probably." Kara muttered sadly.

"I'm sorry." This was Iris. "I don't think Wells was truly thinking about you when he left." This caused Kara to glanced concerned to her. "Jesse was going to go back to Earth-2 regardless and Wells – Harry – didn't want to lose her again. He chose to go back with her. If it hadn't been so much of a rush and he had thought of you I'm sure he would have sent for you or at least done something for your benefit."

"Barry could always take you to Earth two, with my help." Cisco pointed out as he added, "I'm Vibe, yo, I can open portals to other worlds and that still sounds so weird even though I've done it a few times already."

"You're a meta?" Kara suddenly sat up, "why have you not told ARGUS?"

"I need to?" Cisco responded, worry in his voice.

"Their meta department keeps tabs on all known meta-humans, including those in the precinct and in your pipeline. Just in case, you know."

"I don't" Cisco replied suddenly bluntly, "but I assure you I won't be going all Reverb on anyone anytime soon."

"This is giving me a headache," Wally suddenly pointed out.

"Me too" Joe stated, "all this doom and gloom. I know we need to grieve over all we've lost, but this is just insane. You're all welcome to stay here tonight, I have blankets and whatnot in the linen closet, but I'm heading to bed. Hopefully we can all think more clearly in the morning. Err, Kara and Iris… could I…?" He indicated the kitchen, so he could have a private word with the pair.

Kara and Iris exchanged glances but followed regardless, Cisco and Caitlin taking their place on the sofa quickly while Wally bid his goodnights to everyone and headed upstairs himself.

Once in the kitchen, Joe kept his voice down, but the urgency was still put forth. "I won't deny I'm concerned for Barry. He wasn't acting himself earlier and I have no doubt that he would have done something stupid had you not turned up, Kara. Iris you know him, Kara you're fast enough to match him. If he gets up in the middle of the night, please make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"You think he wants to time travel, don't you?" Iris asked, her voice equally low.

"Possibly. Prevent Henry's death, hell maybe even break his own code of conduct and save Nora, his mother." He added that for Kara's benefit. "As much as I love the kid, neither should be accomplished, who knows what it would do to the timeline. Your dad sure as hell wouldn't agree to it, Miss Wells."

"Agreed," Kara stated simply. "I can watch over him. I don't need sleep, but if I need Iris –"

"I'm good to help," Iris stated over Kara quickly. "Barry needs all the help he can get, and to let him think straight. We need to let him grieve without doing something unexpected."

"Thank you" Joe stated fondly. "And if those two stay," he indicated Cisco and Caitlin outside, "make sure they don't put the TV on too loud this time?"

Iris laughed. "Sure."

-SuperFlash-

The morning indeed brought in a fresh perspective. Cisco and Caitlin had too stayed at Joe's – Caitlin on the sofa, Cisco on the rug – while Kara had stayed in Iris' room, although the Kryptonian clone hadn't slept. She'd found, along with her training, that she needed less sleep than a normal human; she didn't know if this was a clone thing or an alien thing, but it had proved helpful in her studies of Earth law and history. One thing was certain though: She had been able to attain a wider knowledge of her studies and take in more informative than was humanly possible. That was an alien thing, she was sure.

But despite not having slept, there was no reason for her to have stayed up. Barry had remained asleep from the moment Joe had put him to bed and only when she heard stirring, and used her X Ray vision to look through the wall, did she move with speed to Barry's side.

Joe's talk the night before had held some sentiment on Kara. If Barry did plan on travelling back, particularly to save his mother, she could cease to exist – events could unfold very differently and he may no longer have been the Flash in the new timeline. It was one of many streams of thought that had travelled around Kara's brain throughout the night, so making sure that Barry didn't act on this was tantamount.

It seemed Barry had temporarily forgotten the events of the previous night anyway, or the grief had overridden them, as when he groaned for Kara to come in after she had politely knocked on his bedroom door, did he gape at her. "Kara! I… Oh." The moment of brief forgetfulness lifted as his eyes darkened, but his smile remained, albeit weaker than when it started. "It's nice to see you. Bad dreams. Spectres of grotesque beings in black haunting me." He shuddered as he added more forcefully, "You stayed?" Looking at this Kara he remembered the other two Karas – despite being in dangerous circumstances, both had lightness to them that just didn't go out. Clone Kara definitely seemed to have inherited that lightness from whichever Kara the DNA had come from.

"I didn't want you doing something silly. Caitlin and Cisco are still here too. Seems the West household had quite the sleepover last night." She smirked as she talked.

"How do you know about sleepovers?" Barry rubbed his eyes as she he shifted position on his bed to get a better view of Kara, who remained by the door.

"Alex. I've learned a lot since we last parted over a month ago," she informed him.

"Really?" He yawned. "Sweet," he added with a stretch, and then he stopped, a thought seeming to cross his own mind before he turned to look at Kara. "And I was..."

"Was what?" She didn't know what he meant as she moved across the threshold finally, her arms folded still.

"Going to do something silly. I wanted to go back and save them, both of them." He looked down to his feet now in thought, sitting on the edge of his bed, almost ashamed at what he had nearly done.

"Your parents." It wasn't a question. Kara stated it as fact.

"I thought it would make everything right. One event could change the course of everything: Thawne wouldn't kill Harry – this world's Harry – who in turn could have had the family we knew from Earth-2; Joe may have reconciled with Iris' mum; Iris could have grown up with Wally as her brother from the start; Ronnie may not have died and he and Caitlin…" he swallowed, another death he took on his shoulders. "Eddie wouldn't have died, either." Barry paused at that. Would Eddie and Iris have been together then or would he and Iris be a couple, like on Earth-2? "Hell, we may not have opened the breach to Earth-2 which would mean no Zoom."

Kara remained silent. She wondered where Barry was going to go with this, wanting to point out that things happened for a reason, but she could almost see the cogs working in his brain, the realisation popping up like a jack-in-the-box when it reached its limit. Yes, Alex had shown her one of those too; she had taken a great pleasure in showing the alien clone the human world.

"But if I didn't breach universes in this new timeline, I would never have met Kara Danvers and in turn, wouldn't have created you." He looked up to Kara once more, a small smirk on his face. "If you hadn't turned up when you did I would have gone through with it. I don't think I could have lived with myself, even with my parents alive, to wipe the possibility of you from the world. Whatever Kara it may be; the world is better off with a Kara in it."

At this, Kara moved over to Barry, sitting on the bed next to him as she somewhat instinctively put an arm around his shoulder. She still needed to control her strength, so she let it rest around him instead as she said soothingly, "I'm glad you thought of me."

"Yeah" Barry stated. "And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that Harry left without telling you. Cisco can open breaches, maybe we could… I dunno…"

"It's fine, honestly," Kara lied. In truth when she'd found out from Lyla the events from Central City she had been devastated to know that the only other person who'd shown her affection from the moment she'd been made had left without even a second thought. She always had Alex who, despite being her superior, was almost like a sister to her, a guide in this strange world. It had been Alex who insisted Kara go and see Barry when she did, and now Kara was glad she hadn't counteracted that decision.

"Did I tell you I like your hair short? Very Cat Grant" Barry suddenly added, having stood from the bed to look around at her.

"Who?" Kara asked, having not heard the name before.

Barry smiled at the question and nearly laughed but was interrupted by Cisco's voice screaming his name. "BARRY!" A shiver ran down Barry's spine at the urgency of the cry, but before he could move, Caitlin was at the door.

"Sorry. Something… well someone… please, you need to come down, now," Caitlin's hair fluttered in the sudden breeze Barry created, speeding past her and down to the living area. Caitlin looked apologetically to Kara before adding to the girl, "If you're staying, I think you need to come down too."

In front of the bay window by the front door a man stood. He was slightly taller than Barry and of bigger build. He wore red. Particularly the jacket with the large lightning bolt going from waist to neck and the helmet he now supported as a relic to a tortured past that was tucked under one of his arms. He was looking seriously to Barry who stood frozen to the spot, the sight of his father's other Earth doppelganger still sending shivers through his entire body.

"Allen," Jay Garrick addressed Barry. "I'm afraid I'm not here on good tidings."

Barry shook his head, unsure of what he was seeing and hearing. It was bad enough that an alternative Flash went around wearing his dad's face, but to hear from those lips words so blunt and less than friendly was still strange to experience. He also didn't see Iris and Joe standing in the door to the kitchen or Caitlin and Kara moving down the stairs until petite fingers intertwined with his own and he gripped tight, Kara's own hands able to take the strength with ease.

"Jay…" Barry finally breathed, "What… what happened?"

"My earth is gone," Jay stated bluntly.

"G- Gone? What do you mean?" Barry remained shocked still.

"I left Harrison and his daughter," Kara's grip suddenly got painfully tight "on their Earth and went to return to mine, only to find it was gone. Nothing but a shell split in two. Everyone… dead."

"My vision," Cisco now moved into Barry's peripheral vision, next to Kara though, "of Earth-2 splitting in half. It happened? But to your Earth?"

"I fear I was gone too long." Despite his stoic disposition, a great sadness seemed to spread across his older features, "I have no home and I don't know why. I was hoping as a fellow speedster you could help me understand what happened."

"But we stopped Zoom," Cisco pointed out angrily, "he had a device that would destroy all Earths, Barry stopped him and the device –" In his surprise and anger, he moved forward again, his bare hand brushing Kara's free one and, in that second, he stopped. Everyone else in the room though, thought he had finished his sentence, indeed Jay continued to talk, but Kara no longer heard the words, she staring at Cisco in shock.

Cisco seemed frozen, paralysed, as he watched something Kara could not see, and only when she tugged on Barry's hand, still holding hers, did Barry look to her to see Cisco in his unfazed expression.

Everyone in the room seemed to follow Barry's gaze now as Cisco suddenly blinked, coming back to life, and his eyes found Kara. He swallowed.

"What did you see? Was it another Earth being destroyed?" Barry asked worriedly.

"N- No… It's Jesse. She's…" his eyes flickered from Kara, to Barry and then to Joe, "she's dying!"

"We need to go! We need to get over there and save Jesse now!" Kara demanded, looking between Cisco and Barry; poor Jay was left in the dark about his doomed planet now as Kara added, "do your thing, that Vibe thing and we can go to her!"

"I can't just… I don't…" Cisco spluttered, put off by Kara's sudden eagerness and need to travel to Earth-2 and save Jesse. Truth be told this vibe of his had been more unusual than that of his past ones – he hadn't got nearly a full picture, just Jesse lying in a bed, Wells over her in a somewhat panicked state and he couldn't be sure, but Jesse seemed to have been vibrating at inhuman speeds. "Maybe dying was an overstatement," he finally stated uselessly, looking to Barry for help.

Normally Barry would have been on Kara's side, or at least in her mind-set, desperate to go over and save Jesse, but two years of experience had finally caught up to him, urging him to err on the side of caution instead of go in and get lost. After all, hadn't this helped himself and Earth-3's Kara defeat Livewire and Silver Banshee? Plan ahead, get to know your enemies, or at least get to know the situation. Running in with no plan never solved anything and in fact, tended to make a situation worse.

Barry needed to speak, Kara was looking at him indignantly and, in fact, most of the occupants of the room were staring to either himself or Cisco now. "You reached for me in the speed-force, right?" The thought had occurred to him and Cisco raised an eyebrow, already realising where Barry was going here, "then you got Iris to pull me back to this world. Couldn't the same be implemented here, to cross the boundaries of this world to Earth-2 without actually going there, to make sure your vibe was right?"

"Yeah, that's feasible. Caitlin knows how to work the technology. And I told Harry I might poke my head into his lab to check on him from time to time, so if things aren't as bad it wouldn't be as much of a disruption into their new lives." He smiled at this, feeling more confident doing this than making a breach back to Earth-2; a breach he couldn't reopen from the other side and one he didn't know how long would stay open either. If they had to go to Earth-2 though, at least Barry would then be quick enough to pick both of the Wells' up and take them through before being potentially trapped on Earth-2 again.

"What? You want to appear to Harry as a vision instead of going there and actually doing something?" Kara now turned to address Cisco, agitation in her voice. She clearly could not understand why they didn't just go. "Jesse may not even last that long!"

"It's better than running there for no real reason Kara." This was Caitlin, she had moved forward; riskily putting a hand on Kara's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. She understood where Kara's need to rush into things came from – she was young and had little experience when it came to being the hero. "If you want, Cisco can send you across so you can see for your own eyes."

"And if Jesse is…?" Kara asked, trying to remain calm as she smiled weakly at Caitlin.

"Then Allen and myself will go over there and bring them straight back" Jay Garrick said. He'd since given up trying to get the attention of anybody to tell him what had happened to his Earth and figured once Jesse was safe they would once again turn their attention back to his Earth. Besides his superhero side was taking over: Saving a dying girl was more important than a dead world at the moment. Afterwards he could find a purpose in his life somewhere, especially if Earth-2 had no heroes without their fake Flash, maybe he could utilise his skills there instead.

It was literally ten minutes later when Caitlin, Cisco, Barry, Kara and Jay stood in the lab where Barry had gotten his powers back – Joe had to cover for Barry at work, or at least inform Captain Singh that Mr. Allen needed another personal day, and Iris had been called into work on desperate, apparent life-or-death need. Wally had left before Barry had even woken, having to get to college and not wanting to deal with the speedster-drama going on in the home for once.

Kara was itching to get on, taking in the room, the equipment that had survived, scattered throughout but still listening to what Cisco was saying. There was a podium of sorts set up in the middle of the room with some wires attached, which Cisco apparently needed to help boost his Vibe powers, and all Kara needed to do was hold on to the meta and concentrate on who she needed to get through to, and since she had never officially met Jesse, she had decided her dad, their dad, would be the best target.

She was right.

-PowerFlash-

The moment the real Jay Garrick had landed them back on their true Earth, Harry knew something was off. Somehow the city had miraculously survived Zoom's attacks; he could tell even from the front of his STAR Labs that there was major construction going on, Zoom's attacks having ceased and a lot of the metas obviously gone, being trapped on Earth-1 in fact, but it was with Jesse that Harry's concentration lay.

As their feet touched on the ground and Jay sped off to make a portal back to his own Earth, Jesse had instantly collapsed, feigning the speed of travel as a means to her dizziness, but barely an hour later Harry had found her unconscious in their family home. He didn't have the heart or strength to take her back to STAR Labs, and the medical services weren't as helpful as he'd hoped so it had been up to his own genius to figure out what was wrong with Jesse; he'd had a hunch from the word go though, and his hunches were normally correct.

Jesse had started phasing in and out of focus about twenty minutes ago; she was covered in sweat and moaning, despite being completely unconscious. Harry hated to see her like this and knew she couldn't stay on this Earth much longer, but he couldn't find a replacement for Barry or even Cisco to take him back to where he knew, just knew, Jesse would get better. Harry couldn't believe he was missing having an Earth-2 version of Cisco. If Reverb hasn't been killed by Zoom, maybe he could have gotten Jesse to safety.

Maybe it was his delirious, terrified state or maybe he was just losing his sanity, but he swore he could see a blond woman reflected in Jesse's cabinet mirror…

He jumped up and span around, his mind suddenly clear and his worries gone. Kara was in the doorway. Only she wasn't quite there. She was like a ghost, staring at Harry, a look of shock on her face as her eyes lingered on Jesse.

"It's true," was all she said looking around.

"I need to get her back to Earth-1, Kara. I need Barry and Cisco's help." He knew exactly what was happening, what was about to happen. He could have punched the air in delight if he wasn't so tired from the stress of the last twenty-four hours.

Kara didn't wait around; with a gust of wind she had vanished, Harry turning back to Jesse who was now tossing violently. He moved back to her side, trying to grab hold of her hand, but her vibrating was getting too quick, too violent – if Barry didn't hurry she could phase through the bed and he couldn't help her then. He definitely couldn't even hold her hand now as she passed right through his skin.

There was flash of red light and the bed was suddenly empty. Harry barely had time to react when Jesse's room became a whirl of nothingness, there was a burst of blue energy, and he was suddenly in STAR Labs; not his Earth-2 STAR, but the Earth 1 one, the slightly shabby, run down Labs that had come to feel as home over the past seven months. Jesse was already on the hospital bed she had been in so recently when exposed to the speed-force, and Harry was again by her side in a matter of seconds, barely taking in Cisco and Caitlin or Barry and Jay in their Flash outfits, or even Kara. He still only had eyes for Jesse.

"What happened? We need to know everything before we can even begin to help her," Caitlin instructed Harry, not even welcoming him back yet due to the dire situation.

"It's not what's happened to her since we parted, Ms. Snow, it's what's happening to her now that you need to know," Wells stated, his voice forced calm as he finally managed to grab hold of his daughter's hand. Already her juddering and phasing was subsiding and he couldn't help but smile at this improvement. She was getting better.

"Well, what is happening?" Caitlin barked at Harry, not in the mood for any of his mind games and surprised he would want to play them with his daughter's life on the line.

"She was exposed to the speed-force a few weeks ago when we brought Barry's powers back, the speed-force of  _this_  world, Snow. None of us knew it, although I suspected when Barry woke her, but she cannot exist on my world, her world, while she hasn't completely embraced what she is." He said this in one breath, causing Cisco to whistle in a somewhat impressed state.

"You mean she's a speedster, like Barry and Jay?" Cisco asked looking at the girl and wondering why he had never suspected it.

"That's exactly what I mean, Ramon. The moment she landed back on our Earth she no longer fit in and the speed-force knew it. Look, she's already calming…" Indeed, she no longer vibrated at all now, and her breathing was returning to normal without anyone's help.

"But Jay can come and go to other universes and not be like this, and Barry" Cisco pointed out, a little confused.

"Indeed. But they have both embraced their powers, Barry more-so." Wells pointed out, moving now to grab a blood pressure monitor and some other supplies. "Undoubtedly if she accepts who she is, the speed-force will allow her to exist back on her home Earth, but until that moment she's trapped here. I doubt she can visit any other Earth either. But you know Jesse, she's a brave and determined girl, this could make or break her. We cannot force her to do what she doesn't want to do, but trying to remove the speed-force from her could be tricky. Like Barry she was chosen; rejecting the gift could be dangerous."

"Wally was hit too…" Barry breathed, standing back from Jesse, Harry, Caitlin and Cisco; he, Kara and Jay watched from a safe distance, although Barry could tell the super-powered woman was just itching to speak to Harry herself, likely wanting answers on why her adoptive father left without a goodbye.

"His powers haven't manifested? I suspect it's different for different people. You, Allen, slipped into a coma for nine months, Jesse would have done the same without your interference. Wally however is an adventurous kid, he wouldn't take anything lying down, not even his new destiny. Give him time though."

"Joe suspected…" Barry muttered now, remember Iris telling him about Joe breaking his favourite cup in an effort to get Wally to catch it with speed, only for nothing to happen and the cup to indeed, break.

"A father always knows," Harry stated simply, now putting an IV line into Jesse's arm before sighing satisfactorily. "She's stable." He looked up at Caitlin, who nodded in agreement before he turned to look at Barry and Kara.

Kara could see Wells was tired, he probably hadn't had any sleep since he'd left the first time, but she had to know, she had to ask him –

"I didn't have time," Harry spoke before Kara could. He knew what his adoptive daughter wanted to say, and suddenly felt guilty for leaving. He had to explain. "Jesse was going to go back no matter what and I didn't know if I wanted to go with her until the last minute. I should have written or called or, I don't know, anything but I didn't and I apologise. I should have thought more of you, and I didn't. Jesse is my daughter though, my flesh and blood. I know you don't have anyone like that, maybe the closest person being Barry or the alien from the other Earth you're cloned from or maybe even Duplicate herself…" he talked himself into silence, seeing the battle being played out behind Kara's eyes, the thoughts colliding in her brain.

He hoped she could forgive him. Harry had liked the clone when she was first made and wanted to get to know her now that she had obviously grown up just a bit and help her grow even more to the potential and the hero she could become. Harry hoped when Jesse finally accepted who she was she would want to stay on this Earth too, so Harry himself could stay.

For Kara it had been so easy to hate on Harry for leaving her, but he raised a valid point; if Barry had to go away, if there was only one chance to go with him, to wherever, she would follow without hesitation, without thought to her adoptive father or sister. Barry had cared about her before the word go, had already known what she was, who she was and who she could be. He had put so much love in her that Kara wouldn't want to leave him forever.

She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Harry before he could protest. Of course she hadn't mastered her strength properly yet, but somehow she knew the exact pressure she should put in the hug that didn't break Harry's ribcage or back. "I'm sorry about Jesse," she whispered in his ear as she held on to her dad.

-PowerFlash-

Iris strode into the Central City Picture News' office, a disposable cup of CC Jitters coffee in hand and not paying attention to what was going on around her – her thoughts were still on Harry and Jesse. True she had never really got on with Jesse, barely having spoken to her in the time she was on this Earth, but her father had proved a daring individual, risking life and limb for his daughter, and loathe as she was to admit it, she actually had liked Earth-2's Harrison Wells. She hoped Team Flash could save Jesse for his sake.

She had actually wanted to stay with the others, especially after finding out about Jay's home world in ruin, but calling in sick or working from home wasn't going to work today, especially by the call from one of her overly fussy co-workers at the paper. Scott, her boss and one-time-date, seemed to have been fired that morning according to the colleague (not that Iris really cared, she'd never really felt for Scott in the way she had for Eddie, or even Barry of late), and everything was up in the air – no one could be away from the office today.

So, coffee in hand and some fifteen minutes after the panicked call, Iris had walked into the office and stopped in sudden shock. Now she knew where the fear had come from, and why all her co-workers were gathered near the editor-in-chief's office.

"Ah, finally. Glad you could join us Miss. East." Cat Grant stood in high heels, in a remarkable and probably expensive dress, seeming to tower over everyone else in spite of her smaller stature compared to some of the others gathered around her.

"It's 'West' actually," Iris found herself correcting the CatCo Media boss before she could stop herself. She found herself staring at the woman in shock as well as everyone else. She had never thought she would actually meet the Cat Grant.

A small smile curled on Cat's lusciously red lips at this remark to which she responded, "Whatever. You're late anyway and your co-workers have been dying to know what the top-boss is doing here in Central. Now that I have everyone gathered I can tell you all that I'm here on a semi-permanent basis, to bring order and sanity to this branch of CatCo that your previous bosses seemed to have neglected

"Mr. Evans was a bad choice in replacing the late Eric Larkin, rest his soul, considering he didn't know what sells a story" Cat seemed to be loving having an audience to speak to, but her eyes lingered on Iris longer than any of the others as she continued, "and that is hope. Hope and heroes, to be precise. Larkin didn't last long enough to garner a true feel for the main Central City meta-human here, the Flash, but Evans wanted to villainise him from the get-go, in spite of all the heroic deeds he has thus far done. That will not do. This city needs a hero and the Flash is it."

Iris couldn't believe what she was hearing. The media mogul of National City was praising the Flash, was praising Barry. If her reputation really did precede her, this was nigh on impossible, even for the woman who once put Perry White in his place. "Central City needs hope in its dark days. When this Zoom character seem to claim the city as his and unleash all hell upon you, Evans still didn't want to light the spark of hope, Miss East here had to write her own article in spite of his orders…"

"Actually…" Iris was about to correct Ms. Grant on several factors there, but it seemed Cat wasn't listening.

"I have come to right some terrible wrongs and I may be here to stay if this city proves interesting. I have a young son whom I refuse to let in harm's way however, so if any Zooms return…" Cat Grant didn't finish her sentence and she didn't have to; everyone knew what she meant. "Anyway. Now I have said my piece, I expect you all to get to work. I think a new headline is in order: 'Cat Grant Comes to Central City' no, actually 'Media Giant Makes History' yes, that will work better." She clapped her hands and the others quickly dispersed; however Iris remained. She had an unusual feeling Cat wasn't done with her.

"Eileen," Cat finally spoke to Iris, the girl beginning to realise that Cat made a purpose of getting names wrong so decided not to correct her this time, "come, I have to discuss with you something that may interest you." She turned on her five-inch heels and moved quickly to the office so recently occupied by Scott, only to stop as she opened the door, and groaned. "Oh so small and dank. I expect open plan, television screen on all news channels, a large desk, oh no, no, no, this will not do!"

However, she moved over the threshold and over to the window, muttering something about 'ground floor living' and 'appreciating the city' before she turned to Iris once more. "I have great plans for this newspaper, Eileen; I mean to turn it into the biggest cornerstone of this city and that all starts with you."

"Me?" Iris breathed, nerves erupting in her stomach. Barely two years ago she had been writing articles in a blog and working in a coffee house to make ends meet, dreaming of a life in journalism and now she was speaking to one of the biggest journalist in American history, even if she hadn't quite yet made a name for herself outside National City.

"You are my meta-human correspondent after all" Cat stated, somewhat airily, "It's what I got you hired for to start with. No one wanted to write about 'The Blur' when he first turned up, and yet your little blogs proved different. I have an eye for talent, Eileen, remember that."

"You were the one to get the Picture News to hire me?" Iris breathed in disbelief, shocked at the information she was being given.

"Mr. Larkin was hardly willing to bring you on board" Cat responded reasonably, "surely you had to know there was a reason for him hiring you, for keeping you. I thought you had a smart head on that body."

"I did… I – I mean I do!" Iris quickly agreed, her mind racing. Indeed, Larkin had seemed resistant to hire her, but still had done so, keeping her on in spite of her concentrated articles on The Flash, and had even passed her on to the reluctant Mason Bridge to learn more of the paper and build up a status. It would have been easier to have fired her, or got someone else at the newspaper to write about The Flash altogether, but he had leaned on her to write the articles, expected  _her_  to know the Flash's moves.

Because Cat had insisted.

"Good," Cat was saying, moving around the small desk to take a seat, "because from this moment on you are my number one meta-human correspondent here. Whatever acts these extra-normal human beings do, whether it's with The Flash or not, you are to write them. I get final approval of course, but no-one else touches the topic apart from yourself. I see big things for you. The first of which is getting me a dairy-free latte from that coffee house you used to work for."

"I – what?!" Iris shook her head, trying to make sure she had heard her boss right.

"On second thought, there's that 'The Flash' beverage I keep hearing about. I would like to try that" Cat wasn't exactly listening to anything besides her own voice. She had pulled out a tablet from her bag and was already typing something on it.

"I'm your meta-human correspondent, you said, not your Personal Assistant!" Iris protested.

"Well, until I get someone, you'll have to do both," Cat stated simply, not looking up from the screen, "I would have so liked to have brought Siobhan here with me," she lamented now, "but she was much better taking over running the place than staying on as my assistant…" She looked up and her eyebrows raised at seeing Iris standing there, still. "Well, what are you still doing here? A Soya Flash drink from the Jitters and make sure it's hot when you get it to me!"

Agitated and slightly dumbfounded, Iris retreated from the office. No doubt Cat would be asking her to find a proper assistant soon, but until then it looked like she was serving tables again, albeit one table and one highly arrogant customer. Walking out of the office doors and back onto the street, she only just comprehended what Cat had revealed to her; she had been the one to get the paper to hire her, to keep her, and it made sense. It wasn't like her work was outstanding, even now, but if she had that connection to The Flash that no one else did, she was pretty much indispensable to Cat Grant and the paper.

Perhaps she could use this to her advantage…


	2. The Canary and the Siren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information about just what happened after Rex Tyler turned up in the Legend's of Tomorrow premier season finale is revealed, the full extent of Quentin's previous actions are revealed, and Barry is forced to team up with Siren to stop Duplicate.

Sara Lance sat at the foot of a grave, her eyes unfocussed and her mind elsewhere. Ever since that Rex Tyler person showed up and Kendra and Carter had left the 'team', her future as part of an ensemble seemed to be in doubt; Rex and Rip had vanished into Rex's Waverider and the rest of the group hadn't seen either since. After an hour of waiting, Sara had had enough; heading back to the city with no clear idea of what to do next.

That was until the enormity of what had happened to her and her family had struck her since her resurrection and she then had spent another hour in tears, wandering the roads of Central City until she had gathered her thoughts and hitchhiked all the way home; that is to say, all the way back to Star City – it was still odd calling it 'Star', renamed after a dead man she had spent the past few months with side-by-side, not including the almost two years that she, he, and Kendra had spent abandoned in the 1950s. At least that unplanned excursion to the past had helped her control her resurrection-related-bloodlust, having re-joined the League of Assassins during that time until her very unusual release thanks to her latest friends.

She had considered going to her dad the moment she jumped out of the third car that made the final leg to Star, but instead found her way to the flat once owned by her sister and shared with by Thea Queen – it wasn't hard to get in, she didn't even need to break in since she had a key and the locks weren't likely to be changed if Thea still lived there full-time now. Wherever Thea was though, it seemed like she hadn't retuned in some nights; the place was exactly the same as when Sara was last here, Laurel could have only just walked out of the door…

Sara had woken in the early hours of the morning, dawn's early light only just caressing her face through the blinds in the lounge, and contemplated her options. That was when she had decided to visit her sister, properly and not just her belongings. It seemed unrealistic that just over a year ago Sara herself had been the dead sibling and Laurel very much alive and so there, as she placed herself on the moist grass at the foot of Laurel's grave, the morning dew not yet dissipated, Sara finally mourned the loss of her sister.

The League of Assassins and Nyssa Al Ghul had taught her a lot about life and death over the past near-ten years, and concentrating on taking out Savage had helped distract her, but sitting at the foot of Laurel Lance's grave was just something Sara just couldn't process; something she couldn't expect to either. For once she found herself hating Nyssa for having destroyed the Lazarus Pit, literally the only means of bringing her sister back – but at the same time, she didn't wish the Bloodlust on her dearest enemy, let alone her sister… well, maybe Malcolm Merlyn, just to see how he'd cope.

Was it her eyes playing tricks on her, or the misty morning shimmer of the sun, but Sara could swear she could see Laurel herself crouching not far off, looking directly at her between the tombstones…

Sara jumped to her feet, League training kicking in as she sprinted forward, the figure among the tombstones ahead not having a chance as it shrieked, Sara grabbing it and pulling it's arm in a tight lock, almost to breaking point but not quite. She moved in to whisper into the onlooker's ear but hesitated, suddenly dropping her back onto the ground as she took a step back and nearly collided with an ancient tombstone behind her.

"Laurel?" she asked the figure who was now whimpering on the grass. Sara could see through the long dirty blond hair to the pale, thin face underneath, her heart almost skipping several beats as she pulled herself together and moved closer to the other woman, her voice softer now as she repeated the name, the woman looking to her in fear as Sara's breath was now taken away. "I'm sorry, I won't... how is this… do you know me?" Sara asked suddenly, not sure what to say but seeing something off about her – she wasn't fighting back, she wasn't being sarcastic towards her little sister and, of course, she was meant to be dead.

The Laurel doppelganger shook her head, fear in her eyes, unable to run away as she seemed glued to the spot, looking up at her attacker. Sara sighed in worry; there was something going on here and she had to find out what.

"I'm Sara… I'm sorry I hurt you. I thought… I don't know what I thought, actually," she admitted to herself as she kept a safe distance while not letting the other woman much room for escape. The girl though didn't even seem to try, acting like a scared little child. "Can you tell me who you are?"

"I'm… Sweetpea," the woman responded meekly, Sara instantly recognising the nickname her father had given both his girls and bit her lip. How was this possible?

-PowerFlash-

Kara had refused to leave Harry or Jesse, choosing to remain in Central than go back to ARGUS's meta-human facility, so she and Alex had taken up residence in one of the abandoned larger labs Cisco sometimes used to give Barry target practice. Jesse, however, hadn't woken from her slumber, even a day after returning to Earth-1, but her vitals completely stable. Barry had tried to wake her the same way he had before, by simply holding her bare hand and letting the speed-force flow to her, but to no avail.

Harry, however, hadn't been too distraught by this; the fact that there was activity in her brain scans and her body was functioning normally now was enough, it was probably a bonus – although neither Cisco, Caitlin or even Barry admitted it – that he had her under his eye at all times. After what she had put him through before, after being kidnapped by Zoom and then running away to Opal City after her rescue, to have her there for her father was enough. Obviously Harry must have felt some anxiety at not having his daughter awake, but whatever he was feeling, he wasn't showing it.

Barry hadn't known whether to be at the Lab or his place of work since he woke, finding himself flitting between the two all morning before taking an early lunch at STAR with Caitlin. The two didn't speak as the unspoken words of the last day drifted past each other's minds: rescuing Jesse, the talk Kara and Wells had after their hug and Jay Garrick's need of information.

It was actually on Jay Garrick that Barry's mind now rested. Cisco had Vibed to see if he could see more into what could have happened to Earth-5, but came about unsuccessful, at which point Harry interjected in the conversation, mentioning that in Barry's final confrontation with Zoom, he and the evil speedster had managed to charge the Magnetar for a good minute or so, the consequences of that possibly being the destruction of Jay's Earth, and maybe more. Neither Jay nor Barry seemed convinced with this theory, but as there had been no other option as yet, both had let it be; Jay himself having thanked the scientist once again and ran off – barely half an hour later he was found to be in London, for reasons no-one decided to contact him about.

Barry had just finished his sixth burger, Caitlin barely having gotten through half of hers, when his cell ran. "You got Barry," he answered, having seen the caller I.D. as Joe.

"Bar, where are you? All hell has broken loose here! Duplicate's escaped along with half of the metas in containment!" There was total panic in his voice and, before Caitlin could even question what the tinny voice of Joe was saying across the desk from her, the Flash suit was gone from its mantle and the only thing left of Barry was a rush of cold air.

-PowerFlash-

"How could you, dad?" Sara had followed 'Sweetpea' all the way back to her dad's apartment, the man himself looking frantic but then pleased to see his daughter… daughters. "Actually,  _how_  did you?" She changed tact, trying to keep her cool as Quentin Lance's voice fell, the girl who looked like Laurel running past him to cower on the couch, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

"You can't judge, baby, I wasn't even going to tell –" he started.

"You can't just mess with some magic to bring her back! I was coming to accept it, mom was coming to accept it and then… it's just the same as me! I appreciate Laurel bringing me back, I do, but at the cost of what? How did you do it? Please."

"You don't know what it's like!" Quentin snapped back, "To lose your daughter... I lost you and got you back, and then Laurel… I couldn't do it again. Any means to get her back, any road, and I took it, and I don't regret it one instance. I have my baby-girl back, that's all I care about."

"But… how, dad? The Lazarus Pit is no more, and there's clearly no bloodlust in her, no fight or… or anything." She had noticed how very child-like this Laurel had been, like she was a little girl in the woman's body – in Laurel's body. This wasn't the same person. How could it be? She had barely spoken on the walk back, determined to follow her footsteps back home; what she was doing in the cemetery was anyone's guess, but she hadn't divulged.

"She's a clone," Quentin admitted, a little bleakly as he looked back to Laurel, still wrapped in a tight foetal position on the couch.

"A clone… how? I didn't know Palmer Tech or even STAR Labs…" she hadn't even encountered cloning in the possible futures she had visited, let alone in the present. Savage would have killed for that sort of technology, literally.

"There's this meta-human in Central…" was all Quentin had to explain as Sara slapped herself in the forehead, causing both the clone of Laurel and Quentin himself to jump at the sound.

"Please tell me you haven't told mum?" she asked quietly into her palm. Dinah Lance Snr lived in Central and if she had known what had happened so close to her, Sara just didn't know what she would do.

"Of course I haven't!" Quentin snapped back, "I hadn't even told you! This was my secret alone. As you can tell, she isn't quite… well."

"She's not even Laurel. She wouldn't have any of her memories, being a clone." Sara's voice was deadpan as she looked at the girl curled on the couch, a thought coming to mind but Quentin cautiously moved toward his younger daughter now.

"You don't understand, baby" Quentin now pleaded again, "when you were dead and when Laurel finally told me I was so angry… I couldn't talk to her – I refused to talk to her! So many wasted months I couldn't have back but now, now I have  _her_  back… she's there. My sweetpea, my little Laurel…" He tried to put an arm on Sara's shoulder, to bring his other girl closer, but she shook him off. "I'm glad you came home too. What happened to your adventures? To that Hunter guy…?"

Sara however wasn't going to be lulled into this sense of companionship, her eyes had remained on the clone of her sister while her mind worked on overtime, thoughts colliding in her brain like a thunderstorm and suddenly she backed away from her dad, a curious smirk on her face as she instead responded to her father: "Don't let her leave again, I'll be back soon. I think… well, I hope… stay here!"

"Baby?" Quentin asked her retreating back as Sara vanished through the door.

-PowerFlash-

The Flash came to standstill in the precinct with Joe still holding his phone to his ear. He wasn't shocked by the speed of the appearance, and indeed, didn't even bother to comment on it as he moved to the superhero. The whole building seemed to be in a ruckus and even Captain Singh was yelling at people – although that didn't surprise Barry or Joe; in fact, that was pretty normal and Barry was kind of thankful he was there as the Flash and not as Barry Allen as he was sure he would be yelled at if he was himself at the moment.

"What happened?" The Flash asked Joe, "How did they get out?"

"Duplicate had cronies on the other side, mainly a couple of Tony Woodward clones – broke through the walls in a matter of seconds, avoiding all gunshots and physical attacks as if they were nothing. It's not good, Bar, with Duplicate back out there she could cause havoc, and with Kara still in the city…" he kept his voice low, so as not to be overheard, although none of this fellow officers were paying too much attention to the conversation, their own careers on the line trying to track down the metas and arranging units to go on the hunt.

"Well as long as Duplicate remains actually  _in_  the city then there's hope as Cisco found the range of her powers are limited to only a few miles," Barry reasoned, "which could mean she had some Girders in storage or one happened to walk into the vicinity of her range, either way, I'm going to need help, and I can't ask Kara…"

"You can't or you won't?" Joe asked conspiratorially.

"Won't. She doesn't yet know the full extent of her powers, plus I can't trust that Duplicate would even now be able to get Kara back under her control, being the meta who made her. I need someone unafraid of the fight, someone tough, someone…"

"Black Siren?" Joe asked, having seen it in Barry's eyes before the speedster could verbalise it. "I thought Cisco sent home that Earth-2 abomination of Laurel Lance?"

"And let her Siren screams loose on an unprotected and still vulnerable world? No way! But she may be my only hope. Her scream could possibly knock out Duplicate's powers… I need Cisco. Keep an eye out and let me know." Another flash of light and the Flash had gone, Joe shaking his head as he turned back to see the Captain walking toward him, looking angry.

Barry was back at STAR before Caitlin had even finished her burger. She'd given it up as a bad job anyway as, the moment Barry, left she had moved to the computer banks to find out what was going on. Realising the mass breakout of metas from the precinct would be the only reason, she'd called Cisco in to help – he'd been distracted since Jesse got back and Caitlin didn't want to know why, but the old team was needed to sort out this mess out. Hopefully the Flash could get everyone back and locked up like during the 'metapocalypse' a few weeks back.

"Duplicate's escaped." The words were spoken before Barry even turned up, but that was all the group needed to know to not involve Kara; of course, with her super-hearing she may have heard these words, but judging by the fact that she hadn't already burst into the room wanting in, even she seemed to know to sit this one out – that, or Alex was talking her out of it already, if Kara had relayed this information to her.

"So, what's the plan?" Cisco asked intently, "How are we going to stop a clone-making megalomaniac from turning the city into a twisted version of Barbie's Fun House?"

"Barbie's…?" Barry voiced, looking concerned to Caitlin before saying more firmly, "What did your research on my clone give you? Anything we can use against Duplicate?"

"Err, yes actually!" Cisco moved around the computer, knocking Caitlin out the way as he pulled up a few images on the screen – one was Barry's clone, looking quite shabby and worse-for-wear in his cell, another was a brain scan and the third was what looked like some equations. "Well it seems that Duplicate's control, her connection to her clones is actually a radio wavelength – weird, I know – she emits it, her clones receive it, no matter where they are. Of course like any radio wave, distance dilutes it, so say you move a clone across the country from west- to east-coast, they would be free of her signal, but close up and she can control them."

"So that's how…?"

"Yeah. It's also how Kara broke free," Cisco commented.

"Is it?" Barry asked. "Tell me." Cisco hadn't divulged until now how exactly Kara had escaped Duplicate's control – Barry still believing his attack on Kara originally had severed the link somehow.

"Well, she may look like a human from the outside – her planet or the original's planet having taken a similar evolutionary track – but there are big differences, besides just the powers obviously. Her brain is very different than ours you see; the part of her brain where the radio signal from Duplicate is meant to be received is completely different to any human's – it allowed Kara to break free" Cisco paused for a moment. He'd observed the initial scans of Kara against that of Barry's clone's to find differences and this had been the most scientifically accurate analysis that he could believe. Anything else and it would be borderline science-fiction.

"Duplicate did say she was a tough cookie to bake," Barry said thoughtfully, remembering his first proper encounter with Duplicate when she had revealed nearly all to him.

"She's lucky she was able to bake her at all without get a heart attack or stroke or something," Cisco said with a grimace. "But anyway, this also proves that our best weapon against her is a blocker, something to stop or knock out the signal at the source –"

"I don't want to kill her!" Barry suddenly protested, "we don't know how connected she and Kara still are for a start; Kara already admitted that five percent of her DNA is linked to Duplicate, it could be that that small percentage is enough to kill her should Duplicate go down."

"Which is why I think we need to come up with some sort of device to knock the signal out at the source," Cisco pointed out reasonably.

"Sounds like you need help." All three looked to the entrance of the Cortex to see Ray Palmer standing there. Barry had been about to suggest Laurel's Earth-2 doppelganger as he had initially suspected back at the precinct, but it seemed that had to wait.

-PowerFlash-

Nyssa was in Star City, this Sara knew. The last time she had returned, after Nyssa had disbanded the League and when she found out about Laurel's death, Oliver had told her that Nyssa had remained in the city, refusing now to fight without an army behind her but still, she had chosen to remain. Whether that was for her husband Oliver, her beloved Sara, or her friend Laurel's sake or maybe it was for all three, Sara didn't know. But now it was just a matter of finding her.

Which, for an ex-member of the League of Assassins, it wasn't in fact too hard when Sara followed her old stomping ground right to Oliver's first base of operations: Thea's club. The place had long since been given up, Thea having moved on from ownership of the place, but once Sara had kicked down the door and walked into the threshold, it wasn't hard to see it had recently been lived in. The dust wasn't as thick for a start.

She kept silent though, stealthy like a cat as she kept to the shadows, Nyssa obviously not on the main floor, so Sara moved to the door of the basement, where the first 'Arrow Cave' had been. The lock had long since been damaged and the door was ajar and, looking through the crack in said door, Sara looked down to see a familiar woman, currently in a tight-fitting all-in-one black outfit, practicing her skills. Sara smirked to herself at the grunting noises Nyssa Al Ghul made as she crept through the door and started moving slowly down the steps.

"I know you are there, Beloved." Nyssa hadn't stopped moving, but her voice was clear, even if she was facing the opposite direction. This was corrected as she turned on one leg, quite gracefully, to face Sara, who herself couldn't help but smile. "What has possessed you to leave your mission and find myself?"

"I haven't left my mission" Sara stated quite truthfully. "In fact I have no mission, besides the one I give myself."

Nyssa moved closer to Sara now, her body language almost unreadable. "And why did you seek me?" Almost.

Sara stood stock-still halfway down the stairs, Nyssa suddenly all she could see. It took a lot of inner-strength to remember to say anything at all as she found herself stuttering: "W-why here? All the places in the world, you chose here to live out your days...?"

Nyssa was now paused as she raised an eyebrow at her former lover. "The city or the lair?"

"Both, I suppose."

"After your death I came here to seek justice, instead I found myself imprisoned by my soon-to-be-husband" – Sara still had to get her head around Nyssa and Olly's League of Assassins nuptials – "It was his sister who confessed to your murder, of course, but in my sparing of her life I found myself an unwitting, if fleeting, part of her and Oliver's team. I suppose this is the only place now, beyond Nanda Parbat, which truly feels like home.

"As for the city itself." Nyssa moved away from the foot of the stairs now, backward so to keep an eye on Sara, "I sought comfort and solace in your sister; she helped me accept your fate, made me realise I was more than the daughter of the Demon, I returned the favour by training her to become the new Black Canary, obviously, but Star City is, and may always be, a place to remind me of humanity, of its woes and joys. It is home." There was the flicker of a smile on her face as Sara found herself moving slowly down to Nyssa once more. "But I digress. Why have you sought me so finely?"

"It's because of Laurel, actually. Because of – of my sister" Sara breathed.

"The Lazarus Pit is gone," Nyssa suddenly snapped. "It cannot be remade. The dead need to rest now."

"I know," Sara raised her hands in defence, "but my father doesn't believe that."

"I found and comforted Quentin in his hour of need with your whereabouts unknown. I told him, as I tell you now, there is no way to bring back your sister." There was true sincerity in her voice at this.

"I know," Sara reasoned once more, "but my father is almost as resilient as yours."

"What has he done?" A sharp whisper.

"He cloned her. A meta-human in Central City. The clone, she's... not right, like a child," Sara tried to keep her voice strong - even now the shock of Laurel's clone's appearance in her life tried to take hold of her, tried to double her grief. Indeed, even as Nyssa muttered something about 'foolishness' a tear trailed a path down her dirty cheek.

"I remembered the memory essence used for training –"

"Rensō kioku?" Nyssa asked, suddenly curious.

"Yes. As you were the last Demon Head before the League's fall, I was hoping you know where to find some?"

"I disbanded the League; I took all that the Demon required with me, except for my father's ring which I melted..."

"So you know where the Rensō kioku is?" Sara couldn't help but keep the excitement from her voice.

"Indeed. But be weary, Beloved, it may not work as you intend. To do what I think you want, the sheer content of the memory essence could be too much, the memories may not stick or could be rejected by the clone. You will, however, need my help; during your death Laurel was a great help to me, I would like her to remember the humanity she showed me."

"I was thinking of asking Oliver too…" Sara cautioned.

"Indeed. She was his childhood sweetheart; he would know much about her that you, your father and myself would not."

"Thank you Nyssa, truly." Before she could help herself, Sara's lips locked with Nyssa's; a lifetime of League training had not, and could not, have prepared the former Demon's Head for the sudden show of passion.

-PowerFlash-

Much to Cisco's annoyance, Barry had dragged him away from Ray and Caitlin to visit the pipeline; Cisco had no idea why until they were face-to-face with a very irate, and somewhat tried-looking Black Siren – it seemed she had not given up trying to scream her way out of confinement. Barry was switching on the coms now as she glared at the pair through dark eyes.

"You know, you remind me of a girl I once met on another Earth" Barry spoke to the meta, she folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at this odd comment. "She called herself a Banshee – Silver Banshee to be specific," Barry paused, wondering why so many used colours in their names before continuing, "but wasn't one for the whole Goth look, bit of a nightmare make-up-wise actually. Anyway, my point is that when I met her she was only just discovering the sheer extent of her powers. You, however, know your limits, your capabilities... How loud can you scream?" Cisco seemed to be catching on fast as he turned in shock from Black Siren to Barry and then back, a mad glint in his eye that he only usually presented when he had a fresh idea.

"I think I can help there!" Cisco interrupted before Siren could reply, Barry looking to him as Cisco continued, "when we decided to keep her here instead of sending her back –"

"A decision I would have liked to have been involved in," Siren pointed out in a dull voice through the intercom.

"Yeah, that," Cisco waved her off, "I started tinkering, as I do, with ideas for her and her power – as she's literally Earth-2's Laurel Lance, I already had some of the specs I needed. I made her a power-dampening choker, like Laurel's Canary Cry I made, but this would literally stop her powers; with a bit of modification I can maybe alter it for pitch and frequency instead, so it could be used to shut down Duplicate without blowing her brains, and maybe add some electro-shock feature to keep Siren in check…"

"You want me to be your pet dog? Urgh!" Siren rolled her eyes and kicked the glass front of her cell, resulting in her own wincing and a stream of curse words – Barry momentarily shut off the coms relay.

"You can really do that? Cos I won't deny I saw some major plot holes in my idea to bring her into the team, with her special skillset she would be a valuable asset. If Laurel was still about I would have nipped to Star and we could have asked her, but Siren…"

"I can do it man, no problem" Cisco grinned, not even waiting around for any more approval as he ran off, leaving Barry facing the Black Siren alone. He turned the coms back on, noticing she had calmed down a fraction.

"I need your help."

"I got that, idiot" Siren spat to him, clearly annoyed. "You need my powers to stop this Duplicate person. She's not your Earth's version of Doppelgänger is she? Cos, just saying, but 'Ganger was a bitch."

"Looks who's talking" Barry muttered. Siren actually laughed.

"So what, a reluctant team member? All I want is some fresh air, a bath and to let loose on my powers – you of all people should know that stopping a meta using their gifts is tantamount to torture,  _Flash_ , and that's not including these ridiculous cells. You know I've been needing to pee for a day now?"

"Information I didn't need," Barry commented airily, "but okay. Once Cisco has his new choker –"

"Leash," Siren corrected.

" _Choker,_ " Barry insisted. "Once he's done that I'll put it on you and then you can help us against Duplicate. I'll consider what to do with you after."

"Judge, jury and executioner. I feel honoured," Siren stated. "Whatever, just ask your Reverb-wannabe to hurry up and I'll be happy."

-PowerFlash-

Quentin was on the couch with his Laurel; she was curled on his lap while he sat stroking her hair. He had nothing else to do, and the trust this clone of Laurel had in him was rewarding. Maybe he was deluding himself into having his little girl back, but he was happy for the moment – Sara had asked him to stay, so he had. He hoped she wasn't going to come back with her mother but he was mentally preparing himself for the onslaught of the women in his life to attack.

What he didn't expect was Sara, Nyssa, Oliver and Thea Queen to come through the door.

Nyssa had prepared herself to see her former friend's form back from the dead, but the shock of this reality still paused her in her step; the two Queen's however remained in the doorway, staring in complete shock at the two on the couch.

"What are they doing here?" Quentin asked, leaning forward to perch on the edge of the couch, worried that his Laurel wouldn't be able to take the sheer amount of people now present; she being used to just herself and him. Plus, Oliver and Thea had been the ones with Laurel when Damien had killed the original.

"Oliver is here at my request, dad. Thea is just a nosy bitch," Sara stated simply, causing a small smile on Nyssa's face, which she wiped off quickly.

"You said it was important and about Laurel. Laurel who's been more like a sister since you and Olly ended up marooned on Lian Yu, and apparently didn't die when we thought she did?" Thea now glowered at Sara, "All that mourning for what?"

"That isn't Laurel," Sara stated simply, looking anywhere but at her father or the clone. "The short story is she's a clone of Laurel's, with no memories and no life before she was forced into existence by dad."

"Quentin…?" Oliver asked, he having finally moved across the threshold of the flat, looking at his friend with something mixed of anger and sorrow. Nyssa, however, didn't let Olly or Quentin speak as she took over.

"Which is why Sara came to me. Mr. Lance, the League of Assassins were masters of herbology, we knew every plant on this planet, every essence they could provide, mixing leaves was a speciality of many a healer and one such mix may help your daughter in ways you haven't thought about before."

"The last time something like this was promised, Thea almost died and I had to cut off Malcolm's hand," Olly stated airily, although there was no spite in his voice at this – obviously the memory of removing Malcolm Merlyn's appendage still gave the Green Arrow joy.

"This time there is no death, no lives on the line – only memories," Nyssa stated, pointedly, removing from her layered clothing a large bottle of dark green liquid. "Rensō kioku" Nyssa spoke, still addressing a wide-eyed Quentin. "In training it allows ourselves to be seen through the eyes of others, to see our own weaknesses and strengths, to learn how to fight better from another's perspective – with Laurel, it could potentially be used to harness our memories of the woman we knew and channel them into the woman we have here."

"I can get my Laurel back?" Quentin asked, amazed and suddenly overjoyed.

"No, dad, not in the way you think." Despite her words, Sara's tone was soft as she bent down to reach eye-level with her father. The Laurel clone had her eyes closed, and was possibly now sleeping. "She would have memories of her original self from an outsider's perspective – she won't know how Laurel thought, what she felt, what was going on in her heart. But she will know the woman Laurel was and, if she chooses to do so, can strive to become like her, as close to Laurel without actually being Laurel."

"I get my baby girl back. Thank you." Sara's words seemed to not have registered with the former Detective, or he chose the ones he wanted to hear, but Sara decided not to try and correct him as she stood and glanced to Nyssa. He would see eventually if this worked. They all would.

"I need to burn the liquid," Nyssa informed everyone, "allow its dissipated self to traverse the room, fill our minds and seep into the clone's mind – it is better that she's asleep now as a concentrated dose and memories of nearly thirty years… well, she could accept or reject them, Mr. Lance, I hope you understand that?" There was an implication to her words the she didn't voice, but one that Sara had understood from the off – if Laurel rejected the memories, or something went wrong, she could go insane.

Quentin however had risen from the chair and pulled Nyssa into a father's embrace. "I cursed the day Sara returned home," he whispered into her ear, "like some ninja warrior with a strange companion, but you have been a blessing to this family ever since. The trials we have gone through and you were still here for both of my girls. Thank you, Nyssa." He pulled away from the hug, a look of complete shock on Nyssa's face as Sara couldn't help but blush herself.

"I think… yes, if we all gather around Laurel," Nyssa tried to distract herself, "and think of the Laurel you knew. The child. The sibling. The lover. The friend. Her ups and her downs, everything you could think to imbue on a potentially new Laurel…"

Thea and Olly looked to one another cautiously, but without saying anything, moved behind the couch, taking up positions like sentinels as Nyssa prepared the Rensō kioku.

-PowerFlash-

Siren was out of containment. It had taken Cisco only ten minutes to add on the adjustments he had promised Barry and the 'Siren Call', as he named the device, was locked around Black Siren's neck, her previous choker chain long forgotten and a warning that should she attempt to take it off, to leave Barry's immediate line of sight, a 'disabling' electric shock would be emitted.

Ray – who was shocked at the appearance of a woman he thought dead until corrected that Donna Nance was actually Laurel Lance's parallel Earth self with meta-human powers – thought this tactic inhumane, even after Barry had insisted on what the Black Siren was capable of, but he had to live with it, being outnumbered. While Barry and Cisco had dealt with Siren, Ray and Caitlin had used an algorithm to find out where Duplicate was going and what her plan possibly was. It had become obvious that neither the Flash or the Anti-Flash were part of that plan as she had yet to come to STAR Labs – where she knew both to be located – so her true plans must have been something different, and something away from revenge. For once.

Caitlin had also found out why Ray was in Central – Rip and some Rex Tyler person seeming to abandon the team of Legends and he had followed Sara to Central; Sara had continued on to Star City while he'd remained in Central. He still didn't want to go back to Palmer Tech – Caitlin was beginning to suspect the 'business man' persona he'd put on when setting up the company was just a front, he happy to remain a silent partner while Felicity Smoak did all the big stuff – so after tinkering about for a day or two had decided to check in on his friends at STAR. He was glad that he had done so now and Caitlin found herself glad Ray was here.

"You guys are going to need help from Atom, right?" Ray asked Barry as Caitlin told him Duplicate's location – he tried to ignore the weird Laurel lookalike.

"I might need help keeping this one in line," Barry replied, indicating Donna Nance as he added, "and if Duplicate's built herself an army, all the hands I can muster might be helpful."

"I could always make a portal to Earth-5 and you can toss some metas to the death Earth?" Cisco added innocently, much to the discontented look of the others. "Just a suggestion!" He threw his hands up in personal defence.

"I think it best if Barry, Siren and Ray meet up with Duplicate's… army, for lack of a better word, head on, then you guys can stop some Zoom-esque revolution before Duplicate has the chance to begin it," Caitlin pointed out, Ray and Barry nodding as Ray moved off to get suited up.

"Duplicate's bound to have more than one of the same metas in her army," Cisco pointed out, "so Siren, you need to scream, knock out Duplicate's signal, and hopefully knock out the clones, then it'll be just a clean-up of those left."

"Piece of cake," Siren droned on. "I could knock a building onto them if you want some more use of me?"

"Probably not a good idea. We need Duplicate alive," Barry pointed out.

"For someone so keen to push a leash on a meta and lock the rest up, why don't you go in for the kill? It would be so much more hu–" the choker around her neck lit up suddenly and Siren whimpered, almost falling to the floor as Barry turned to her.

"Do not question my methods, Siren, or the shock will be worse. Remember, this is your probationary time. Judge, jury and executioner you said, and I'll stick to that," Barry barked.

Siren just glowered as Ray re-entered the room in full robo-suit. "Did I miss anything?"

Seconds later, the Flash and Siren – the latter in Flash's grasp – were speeding through the streets of Central; ahead a tiny glowing dot sped above the city, Ray Palmer keeping small so to be undetected by any meta who tried to attack before they did. Caitlin had figured out Duplicate and her army of escapees and clones to be marching down the main road toward the hospital, and only stopped when the Flash appeared in front of them, he dropping Siren at the same time.

"Well, well, well, so we meet again Allen," Duplicate crooned. She didn't blur her face this time, although she still looked weak and pale; the hand Kara had damaged on their first encounter was hidden under a glove and Barry took momentary satisfaction knowing it wasn't so easy for her to clone a thumb back for herself. "How is my Flash doing? I miss him so…" she purred.

There was a spark of light from above as Ray struck, managing to take four metas down, two Shawna Beaz's and Roy Bivolo going down with another meta Barry didn't recognise. Without instruction, three Farooq's, otherwise dubbed 'Blackout', shot electricity back at Ray, who only just managed to dodge the shock. Barry could see Siren clenching her fist, desperate to let out the scream she'd been holding for weeks now; but she had been told not to act until she'd been asked to.

"You brought friends. I was expecting that alien of yours… but who's this? My, my, don't you look familiar?" Duplicate moved closer, but Barry was quicker – he took the opportunity to punch the woman in the gut and move quickly into her small army of metas, able to take down all three Blackouts in one quick strike somehow and was about to hit a familiar tall man with glowing eyes when he was propelled backward – Girder had appeared out of nowhere.

Ray had come to his defence though, firing more shots at Girder now who turned to face Ray and charged – somehow every bit still the dumb jock he had died as and no better than the zombie they had faced recently. "I think now's time to use plan A," Cisco told Barry in his earpiece, "there are more clones here than real metas."

"Yeah, don't let your personal hatred for Duplicate or any of the others get in the way," Caitlin added, "used the Siren Call."

"So glad it's catching on already." Barry could almost hear the smirk in Cisco's voice as he rolled his eyes.

Turning to face where he'd left Black Siren, he saw she was in hand-to-hand combat with Duplicate and easily overpowering the clone maker, but Barry didn't stay back and watch as Ray was now throwing punches too, so instead he sped to Siren's side and simply whispered to her "Now!"

She didn't even hold for breath as she opened her mouth and instantly a loud, long, almost ear-piercing scream enveloped the entire area. The frequency wasn't enough to shatter glass, but Barry could see, suddenly crouched to protect his ears, that many of the windows in the buildings around them were vibrating dangerously and the remaining public onlookers were running for cover.

It had worked though; Duplicate had collapsed and nearly all the other metas had gone down with her as Barry forced himself to move, claiming the remaining metas while still incapacitated by the scream and whisking them off to STAR Labs – the only secure meta holding facility now.

"And why didn't I start with that?" Siren asked when the coast was clear, the remaining metas gone and the clones and their master unconscious on the pavement.

"I was about to ask the same question," Ray added, "and there's going to be a ringing in my ears for days now, isn't there?"

-PowerFlash-

They had either done it or failed. Nyssa couldn't tell and Sara didn't want to know.

Laurel still lay sleeping on the couch, the green mist created by the Rensō kioku that had filled the room to the point of a smoke-screen was dissipating quickly and all Sara wanted to do was leave and cry once more. The Rensō kioku had brought back all the memories she needed of her sister so easily, a process she had forgotten happened considering she had normally been the recipient of the stuff when training with the League.

Oliver was stony-faced while Thea and Quentin were wiping stray tears from their eyes, the effect the same on everybody. They had all thought of Laurel, from the moment they had first met her to the moment she had died. If this Laurel's memories of theirs were to stick, only Sara knew how it felt to remember her own death and so it was something the two could share if they ever reached that point in whatever relationship they were to have.

As Oliver moved over to Quentin to have a word now, Sara wondered what position this put her in. The clone was technically younger than her, but Laurel was obviously her older sister; did this make Sara the older one now? She was certainly more experienced, that was for sure.

As Laurel stirred on the couch, her REM becoming suddenly more rapid, Sara moved down to kiss her on the forehead – if the memories stuck or didn't, she would be here for the woman, big or little sister, that was for sure. Sara looked over at Nyssa, an unspoken agreement between the pair passing as Sara stood and, without another word to her father, ex-lover or friend, left the apartment with her old girlfriend.

Time would tell, she knew.

-PowerFlash-

"Can I take this thing off now or am I still your pet?" Siren asked, agitatedly, back in STAR Labs. The whole ordeal to take on Duplicate hadn't been that long, but she was still shaken by being 'familiar' to the meta human. True, she had been cloned by Doppelgänger during Zoom's reign on Earth-2, but that by no means meant that this Duplicate had met her before. Unless she had met this earth's 'Laurel Lance', who was meant to be dead.

"You proved your worth, yeah," Barry responded, now back in his normal clothes and pulling up Joe's number on his phone.

"I still don't know why we had to wait. It's not like Laurel – I mean, Donna, sorry the different name is weird to me – needs to build up the breath to do that sonic scream thing. Sonic Scream… could be a good name for you?" Ray added to Siren.

"I prefer Black Siren all the same," Siren rolled her eyes as she looked expectantly to Barry, who was now in mid-call with his foster-father, and rolled her eyes again, instead looking to Vibe. "Well?"

"I think you may be more use to the team, but you're not exactly a team player, Siren," Cisco pointed out evenly. "Besides, how do we know you won't turn on us?"

"Oh come on. What's a girl got to do to get some freedom around here?" She aimed a kick at the table, but resisted. "Look, if me playing for you guys means that I can at least get a decent bed, regular toilet breaks and a bath or shower every now and then, then toss me a treat and I'll do the tricks."

"I don't know…" Caitlin bit her lip, sitting beside Cisco on the desk.

"She did well though," Ray pointed out, "and was more than a match to the pale woman, Duplicate, than I expected."

"Probably cos she's got no experience in fighting and is as weak as shit," Siren snapped, "but I'll take the compliment."

Barry switched off from the phone, looking back to the small group. "Joe told Singh's the metas are in lockup elsewhere, Singh didn't ask questions for once. I think we're safe. I'm going to check up on Kara; she's been training with Alex all day and with Duplicate in such close proximity… yeah." Without another word, and obviously now distracted, Barry vanished with a rush of air and streak of lightning to the other side of the labs.

Siren groaned as she now rolled her head in anguish, her neck clicking noisily. "Shall we vote then? Those for keeping me in the team and out of those horrible little cells…" Her hand rose, as did a bemused Caitlin and Ray. Cisco was still on the fence, but Siren couldn't help but smirk. "Looks like the 'againsts' are outnumbered. Now I'm dying for a bath…"


	3. Return to Earth-3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara requests to go to the original Supergirl Earth to learn her identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Earth-3 at the time was based on the TV show; this chapter originally came out between seasons 1 and 2 of Supergirl, before the big dramatic changes were put into effect, or character given to Lena Luthor.

Kara was alone.

It was the first time, really, since she had come back to National that she found herself on her own. Of course she was used to being by herself; at ARGUS she had spent plenty of time on her lonesome – studying American, and by extent general Earth, history, researching space to see if she could identify where her originator's home planet could be – if it existed in this universe – and of course, sleeping. She'd spent a lot of time with Alex too.

True, her strength was unfathomable, making it hard to fight with others without breaking them in half, but they had found ways of countering this, particularly back at ARGUS where they had several really strong metas working for them that were nearly more than a match for Kara herself. Practicing with her freezing breath, heat vision, and X Ray vision and, to an extent, flying didn't really need physical opponents, and so those were the skills she had been practicing since she'd found herself back in Central.

But now that Alex had to leave and Kara refused to go with her, wanting to stay near her adoptive family and Barry, she found herself alone, wondering what her purpose in this world actually was. Everyone had a purpose didn't they? Alex's was to help metas and people like Kara; Barry's now was to save people and run really fast; even Iris West had a purpose, a passion to write for her Central City Picture News thing, but what did Kara have?

She had super powers and no clue how she came to possess them, in all honesty. She felt she had no place in the world beside that which she made for herself and wasn't yet comfortable to follow in the footsteps of Barry into superhero-dom. Was she even cut out for that? Alex had shown her superhero fluff pieces on the television from networks and movie conglomerates and they all seemed to follow that ideology that 'with great power, comes great responsibly' – she had great power, that was undeniable, but did she want to accept that responsibly yet?

Her originator must have, being that 'Supergirl' person on both the worlds Barry had visited. She wondered what those Karas had felt, what they had gone through and dealt with to become the superheroes that Barry had met. Could she, Kara Wells, ever live up to that kind of legacy?

"You alright, Kara?" Cisco's voice seemed to wake Kara from her reverie. In fact, it had woken her from actual sleep. She had been by Jesse's bedside, their father working with Joe on something – more than likely secure holding facilities strongmen couldn't just break through – and Kara, having nothing better to do, had gone to her foster sister's side, lost in thought that she had actually drifted off.

"Hmm?" She looked around to him, "yeah, I'm… yeah."

"You don't look 'yeah'," he pointed out sweetly, moving over to her and taking the other chair next to the clone, "if anything, you look a bit lost. Anything you wanna talk about? Happy to be your sounding board; I'm most people's sounding board, actually…"

"It's nothing, just thoughts, you know?" Kara smiled politely at the man; she liked him, he was quirky and a good team player with the others – she was glad of his company.

"What does a clone think about?" Cisco couldn't stop himself voicing this, "I mean I know you're a person, not exactly a human being, but it's not like you can remember and reflect on stuff like your childhood or wonder where old friends are; you have a limited memory and that must suck."

Kara raised her eyebrow but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, it does suck. I don't have many memories but… you could help actually." It was like a lightning bolt had struck her, and not the same sort that had hit Barry – she wanted to know what her originator felt like, what her childhood was like, what made her the superhero she had obviously become – well, she could ask her!

"I could?" Cisco looked hesitant, a little worried even.

"You said, the other day, you can open portals to other worlds. You even offered to throw some metas of Duplicate's gang onto the desolate Earth-5!"

"You heard that?" Cisco was shocked; what they had done with Duplicate, how they had stopped her the second time, Kara wasn't part of that, unless Barry had told her?

"Super-hearing, Mr. Ramon," she stated airily, although using the formal name like her foster father did.

"Oh." He'd momentarily forgotten about that. "But I can't just open a portal to a world I haven't been to – I can't even open them from other worlds, or at least I haven't tried. It's… it's pretty intense. But I could do something else for you."

"What's that?" Kara was intrigued, but she hadn't yet given up on the idea of going of Earths 3 or 4 and was insistent on pestering the meta until he complied. She'd have her way.

There was a fierce glint to Cisco's eyes now as he jumped from his seat, Kara doing the same – although not before gripping Jesse's hand for a moment in personal reassurance – before following him out to the corridor. Cisco was almost bouncing now as they moved down the circular corridor until he stopped, turning to one of the blank walls and touched what looked like a very faint outline of a handprint – obviously an almost-hidden palm-recognising lock of some type.

Instantly a doorway appeared – the section of wall sinking back an inch before moving to the side.

"I got the idea from our Fake-Well's secret room we hid Jesse and Wally in to protect from Zoom; obviously this room is part of the plans, I just sort of hid the doorway and updated the plans to remove the room to make it a somewhat-secret," Cisco explained as they moved through, Kara instantly noticing what looked like a similar layout to the Cortex, although lacking in furnishing or extra off-shoot rooms, but her eyes were instantly drawn to the three mannequins standing in the centre of the space.

One was bare, but the other two wore suits Kara had never seen before, at least not from anyone working in STAR – they were both molded to a female from, both similar in generic look to Barry's and presumably made from the same materials, but the colours were different. One was yellow and red, although more red than yellow – she could tell it was made for a speedster, mainly due to the lightning bolt logo just off-centre, near the heart. Its boots were red with a yellow trim, there were no gloves, but a mask, not too dissimilar to that of the Green Arrow's, was matching in colour to the boots set upon the mannequin's head.

The other outfit was off-white. There were, again, no gloves, the boots were a very pale blue colour with a white trim and the mask that covered the eyes, just like the female speeders', were wholly off-white, but with a light-blue trim to it too. There was no symbol to indicate what group of heroes it could belong to, at least out of the two she knew.

"Yours and Jesse's," Cisco stated, making Kara jump as she'd quite forgotten that he was there. "I had both of your measurements on file – you from when you first came to us and Jesse's more recently – so I thought 'why not?'. Harry wants Jesse to become a speedster, or at least that's the vibe I got off him, no pun intended, and as for you…" Kara looked back at Cisco now, an urgency to her gaze as he smirked to her that boyish grin he supported when he seemed to know more than he was letting on, "Destiny" he stated simply.

"Destiny?" Kara almost scoffed, glancing back to the outfits nonetheless and noting that, unlike Barry's, her collar didn't cover the neck and stopped just above where her collarbone was situated, probably to give her the freedom of neck moment Barry didn't necessarily need. That was the same with Jesse's. "Have you thought up names for either of us yet? The superheroes we're  _destined_ to be?"

"For once, no. I mean Harry calls Jesse his 'Jesse Quick' but I'm hardly willing to put her first name out there to the public, and 'Quick' alone is a little… eh. Your other selves were called Supergirl though, so, I dunno."

"Not Supergirl," Kara suddenly moved, turning away from the suits, "not anything, at least, not yet."

She moved back the way she'd come, the door opening for her as she passed through it and strode out, again lost in thought. Cisco had gone far already in making her, and even Jesse, outfits, but Kara didn't feel like she deserved it. How could she when she had nothing to fight for, no lives to want to protect? All she had was ARGUS and just over a month's worth of memories, that wasn't enough.

"Hey, Kara wait!" Cisco ran up to her, Kara not bothering to speed up, as she nevertheless didn't stop walking either. "Didn't you like them? Was it the name? I was thinking Superwoman would be more effective but –"

"It's not the name, it's not the outfit Cisco… I just want to know who I am before I go about saving people as Super… thing." She couldn't even think to utter the name, "I just want to know who I am."

"Back to opening a breach to Earth-3 or 4 then, huh?" Cisco asked worriedly.

"Yes" Kara responded, bluntly herself.

"I don't understand. Why is this so important to you?" Cisco asked, trying to get a feel for this, to truly know what was going through Kara's head. This urgency had appeared to come on so suddenly.

"You couldn't understand," Kara said a little bluntly. "You have your life. A childhood, a purpose, friends, family. You know who you are. I don't have anything."

"You have us," Cisco reasoned.

"None of you can tell me who I am… what I am," Kara persisted. "I'm not human. Not really. There's a world out there with a history I don't know. A part of me is missing – a void of sorts – and you can't give me what is needed. I'm sorry Cisco, but here's only one person who can tell me about where I come from, the person I come from. I have to find the original Kara."

Cisco sighed as he heard Kara's speech and could hear the passion in her voice. He knew she needed this so all he could respond with was, "I think we gotta ask Barry, man."

-PowerFlash-

"Just concentrate on Kara." Barry had returned to STAR right after work – he couldn't take more leave or else he'd be fired – having found Kara and Cisco in debate in the Cortex. Finding out what Kara wanted to do, Barry knew there were risks but had instantly been on board with the idea. He had only come across both Earth-3 and 4 by accident however, so he couldn't guarantee safe passage to either, or if they'd find another Earth with yet another Kara/Supergirl on it too.

Caitlin and Ray, the latter having decided to remain in Central 'for now', had wound up in the Cortex as well to find out Kara's new plans; Caitlin was worried, Ray however, intrigued. The concepts of other Earths he knew about – after traversing through time, the ability to go to parallel worlds was suddenly not as ludicrous as previously thought, after all – but finding out Cisco was the key in that, that he could open portals to other worlds was amazing. All he needed to do was concentrate.

"I'm looking, it's… it's hard to do," Cisco spoke, having his Reverb glasses on, a hand outstretched. Originally Vibe had to find the correct location to breach places, the weakest point in the universe's structure, but recently, maybe due to use of the Magnetar or his more willingness and acceptance of his powers, he'd found that anywhere was as good as spot as any. He'd been practicing with Caitlin actually, away from Barry. The Flash had been through enough not to let this worry him too.

"Please…" Kara whispered to Vibe, her eyes on Caitlin now. Caitlin had been the first to go against traversing to another Earth again, after all, their first attempt had brought that monster, Zoom, to their shores, but Kara needed this. She needed to know who she was, where she came from, how to control herself. She just had to know. So they had planned. Cisco would open the breach, Kara and Barry would go through, they'd find that world's Kara, give her clone time with her and then precisely six hours after opening the first breach, Cisco would open another for Kara and Barry to return through. The last of this plan had been what worried Caitlin the most.

What if Barry and Kara didn't come through? Could they risk sending someone else through to find them? Would something worse come out? Both the Karas that Barry had come across had had rather nasty uncles bent on some sort of world domination – what if he had succeeded and either, or both, Karas were dead, the world in a terrible state? It was risky, but there was nothing they could do about that. If Barry and Kara didn't come through in six hours' time, Cisco would close the breach, Vibe for Barry and then… well.

"Wait… I think… yes, I see… somewhere. I don't know which, but I see Kara… long hair… blue suit… red cape, yes, like you described Barry." There was excitement in Cisco voice, he having found what he hoped to be true.

"Open it," Barry stated defiantly, glancing to Kara – who was now, for once, in normal civilian clothes: a full length florally blue dress and dull red sweater with bright red sneakers. She had picked the sneakers out herself, they being part of Central City's exclusive 'Flash' collection – before looking back to Cisco, who's hand was shimmering with blue light.

Kara gasped as the rippling blue light expanded, Barry quickly moving her behind Cisco, as what looked like a body of sparkling, shimmering, water exploded from Cisco's hand, large enough for a human to pass through as it's light cast an ethereal blue glow about the room.

"It's now or never," Cisco breathed as Kara grabbed Barry's arm, a little too tight, and he pulled on his mask. There was a flash of golden light and the Flash and the cloned alien girl were gone.

-PowerFlash-

Barry stopped as quickly as he could, passing straight through the blue vortex from one world into the other, coming to a pause in a beautiful, picturesque landscape, the sun shining down on him. It was just as he remembered when he'd saved Kara and took her to the safe spot before. Surely here was where she'd stripped off her burning clothes to reveal the suit underneath? This was surely Earth-3.

He looked for landmarks; trying to figure out which direction National City must have been and came to a pause, the shining light of the late-afternoon sun reflecting off the buildings some miles away. Even from this distance Barry could see the two biggest company names almost glaring at him: CatCo and Lord Enterprises. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Kara telling him about Cat and Max's rivalry.

On the lookout for Central, to see if it stood next door to National as on Earth-4, he instead heard Kara cry Cisco's name, Barry looking to her to see her speed off the way they had come, he following her to find Cisco, indeed, lying unconscious on the grass. No portal to be seen.

"Cisco?" Barry crouched down, gently slapping the man on his face to see if he could wake him. Barry looked up to Kara on Cisco's other side, "What happened? Did you see?"

"I didn't! I just saw him… Barry, how are we going to get back?"

"We'll worry about that when we get to it," Barry told her quickly, trying not to think about that himself as he slapped Cisco much harder across the face.

"Zoom!" Cisco shot up, almost knocking both Barry and Kara aside as he looked about in panic. "He was here… where's here…? Barry?"

"We're on Earth-3," Barry stated softly, "you weren't meant to come with us. What about Zoom?"

"He came out of the breach the moment you and Kara went in…" He looked directly at Barry, "only it… he looked horrible, like one of those time wraiths, all… corpse-y." Barry felt the pit of his stomach drop as he looked away from Cisco, remembering the dreams that had plagued him since Zoom's apparent defeat – the black wraith chasing him through time – that had first really cropped up the night Kara had returned to his life. "Barry? If we're on Earth-3, how are we going to get back?"

"You can't just tweak your glasses?" Kara tried, Barry still not looking at them now.

"Do you see my Vibe glasses around?" Cisco snapped, Kara instantly realising what Cisco meant – he wasn't wearing the glasses now and they weren't anywhere around him either. They really were stuck.

"I might know a guy who could help you rig something up," Barry's voice was slow as he looked around again to Cisco, a small smile on his face. "I'm sure you and he will get on like wildfire. I may actually regret this." He stood, nodding to Kara who couldn't help but smile as Cisco sighed and stood himself.

"If it's the Harry of this Earth I may just scream. Two different Harrison Wells' in my life is one Wells too many." He groaned, aching a little from being pulled through the breach.

Barry turned to him. "I'm going to have to carry you, it's a bit of a walk to National from here." Cisco shrugged as Barry scooped down and picked his friend up in his arms. "Oh, getting a little heavy there," Barry couldn't help but joke, "you should lay off the fast food!"

"Hey, not all of us have super-fast metabolism!" Cisco complained as Barry nodded for Kara to follow him.

In a matter of seconds, they stood in a room, the walls unpainted and a lonely desk with computers on, and Cisco felt a little motion sickness. Barry dropped him into the only couch in the room and turned to Kara, "We're in CatCo media; where your doppelganger works, hopefully she's still here so… Kara?" Before he could finish, Kara had gone, a look of glee on her face as Barry now groaned. "You, wait here!" he addressed Cisco, changing into street clothes in a nanosecond and vanishing after Kara.

-PowerFlash-

Cat Grant of CatCo Worldwide Media was having a bad day. Not only was she regretting letting Supergirl – sorry, Kara – go as her assistant, but her replacement was nothing short of a millennial idiot. She couldn't fire this new one yet, the union would have Cat blacklisted with the amount of assistants she had had since Kara had been promoted, but right now Cat wanted to pull her hair out.

Not only that, but the article on Superman's defeat of Darkseid had been claimed by Perry White right from under Cat's nose. True, anyone could run any article they liked, but Perry still had a hold of Cat in a way the media mogul didn't like to admit – and if he got first run of an article, it meant any that followed would just be a rehash of the Daily Planet's initial coverage; Kara wouldn't get the recognition she deserved that way. It was a shame as Kara had even written a lengthy and, surprisingly unbiased, article that CatCo could just no longer print. This would have been Kara's biggest article to date since her report of Supergirl's defeat of Non and the Myriad device and would have put Kara on the top along with, well maybe not Cat or Perry themselves, but maybe Lois Lane. Cat wanted that for Kara, even if she didn't show it.

"Claire!" Cat called for her millennial assistant, not looking up now from the stationary computer screen as she read the quite menacing email from Perry. "Oh where is that girl?!" Cat looked over to her assistant's desk, not finding the girl there but then paused.

Kara was wandering the floor, looking lost and supporting shorter hair than she had seen of her former assistant. "Keira?!" Cat now called to the girl, who looked over to Cat, shrugged and moved toward the office.

To add to Cat's intrigue of Kara's new look, a familiar man seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before he could move to Kara though, the secret superhero had entered Cat's office with a smile, Barry Allen forcing himself to walk up behind her and nod to Cat.

"How lovely to see you again… Flash," Cat stated, Kara's eyes going wide as Barry moaned. He obviously hadn't known Cat Grant had figured out who he was when he'd first been here. "And Kara, I like the look! It suits you, shorter hair. Was I an inspiration, I wonder?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Grant –" Barry started, Kara not even knowing where to begin.

"I would like to know Mr. Allen" Cat cut him off, "how you became the scarlet speedster? Every city seems to have its superhero mascot; Supergirl for here of course, Superman for Metropolis, there's even the rather dully named Starman of Opal City, but you… Central City had a Flash, but he was much older than you, not too old of course, he could have passed as your father, but he vanished about a year ago, taken by a blue blur and neither has been seen since. When you appeared in Central two months ago I thought, well, you can understand I'm sure but, then not a word of you, or the Flash since, either… I have to wonder…"

"I don't know what to say Ms. Grant," Barry honestly didn't know, but Cat only pulled a small smile as she leaned back in her chair and he tried to take in all that Cat Grant had revealed. When he had first come here the only heroes he'd been told about were Supergirl and Superman, they clearly being the favourites of the bunch or he just being in Supergirl-territory and so none of the others were mentioned. Now he was being told of other heroes on this world and one of them was very familiar – worryingly familiar, in fact. Before he could think more of it, Cat Grant started talking again.

"So, what do I owe the pleasure of your return? You're a bit late to help Superman. Incidentally, Keira, your article I cannot run, as much as I would like to; Perry outmanoeuvred us there."

"Um, Ms. Grant?" Another Kara by the door, looking in and only seeing the backs of Barry and her other self, knocked on the glass pane and Cat did a double-take. So did this Kara as Barry's Kara turned to look at her double. "Oh boy…" Cat's Kara muttered, but couldn't help smile when she saw Barry.

"I think some explaining is in order!" Cat now stood up from her desk.

"Twin sister!" Barry almost shouted, turning back to Cat, whom raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm Kara's cousin, aren't I? These two were separated at birth and only recently came back together, I suppose Kara didn't want to let you into her private life and we both thought we'd surprise her. You know, an evening drink and whatnot…" Barry tried.

Of course Cat didn't believe the Scarlet Speedster, but she was good at maintaining a poker face and knew she'd get some sort of full story from her Kara in the end, so forced a small smile. "Well, that's… lovely. What should I call your shorter haired… sister?" she addressed her Kara at this.

"Keira!" Barry, again, almost shouted, wanting to slap himself at the same time for using Cat's nickname for the superhero. How could he be so stupid?

"Really?" Cat really did have a hard time keeping her poker face this time. "Well then Barry, Keira… if you wouldn't mind, I'd like a private word with Ker– Kara before she obviously clocks off for the weekend." Cat stood down as politely as possible as Barry gave Kara Danvers a knowing looks while he traversed a slightly shocked Kara Wells from the office. It looked like another lie had given Miss Wells an identity, and they hadn't even been back on Earth-3 for ten minutes!

"Barry?!" They had barely left the office when the familiar tones of Winn Schott Jnr met Barry's ears and he couldn't help but turn and smile at the young man, who didn't even wait for permission to give the speedster a hug. "Nice to see you! What are you doing back? Kara, when did you…?" He was pulling out the hug when he saw the Kara in the office with Cat and the Kara next to Barry, looking politely lost.

"She's from my Earth," Barry responded simply, to Winn's somewhat knowing look as Barry continued, "I'm actually going to be needing your help. I brought a friend, computer genius, who is going to need your help in making a device he's familiar with. He's actually in the Supergirl Office." He referenced the room he'd left Cisco in, the one Winn himself had claimed as the Regular Joe's base of operations outside the DEO.

Winn nodded as his eyes befell his Kara, walking from the office. Barry's Kara, or 'Keira', seemed to be watching her double with a steely gaze, but before she could even voice what she planned on asking her, Barry moved in front and between the two Karas.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Allen," Kara Danvers grinned to her friend, "and to see me for the first time." She nodded to her counterpart. "I think we better go somewhere private to get a full scope of what's happening. I'm beginning to think this won't be a quiet weekend after all."

In the Supergirl Office, Cisco had already made himself at home; easily hacking into Winn's account to research the girl known as Supergirl, the original Kara, to have an understanding of exactly what made the woman so powerful, and was just on the synthetic 'Red K' Kryptonite incident when the door opened and Barry, two Karas and an ordinary-looking man entered the room. Cisco didn't bother to pretend he had been doing nothing in the time he'd been left alone.

"Cisco, this is Winn. Winn – Cisco," Barry introduced, Cisco jumping up now and shaking the guy's hand.

"I've been looking at your work so far – it's good! Considering you're doing all this pretty much on your own…"

"I have James to help," Winn quickly interrupted, referencing Superman's best friend and his co-worker.

"Where is he anyway?" Barry turned back to Winn, generally curious.

"Metropolis. Supes just took on some big bad called Darksied and, well, James thought he'd be more use up there than here at the moment. Been a bit quiet since Kara stopped her uncle and his mind control device…"

"So that was his plan?" Barry looked to Kara Danvers now, already getting too involved in this Earth and forgetting his goal here, despite two Karas being in his vision. "Mind control? Yeesh!"

"Yep, but I saved everyone, killed him and flew Fort Rozz back into space." Despite the glee in her voice at her achievements, there was a noticeable sadness to her eyes, something Barry knew all too well when it came to taking a life. Kill or be killed.

"Yeah, and I hacked into its computer system and flew the prison ship right back to where it came from," Winn added giddily, "cos you know a lot of those prisoners would have spacesuits available and still be able to get back here even if their base was no longer on the surface."

"Neat!" Barry grinned, "Back to the remains of Krypton or the Phantom Zone?" Kara had told him all about how she got to Earth and how Fort Rozz had followed her out of the Zone the last time Barry had been here.

"Phantom Zone," Winn smirked.

"You flew a space ship, via remote, into deep space?" Cisco asked, amazed now, a whole new respect for the 'ordinary-looking man' in front of him.

"Yep. Was relatively easy, like a game. Actually reminded me of Stellaris…"

"No way! You have that here? I'm on it all the time when I'm not helping Barry out or, you know, working!" Cisco was geeking out around this other techno whiz kid and Barry couldn't help but smirk at the pair – Earth-3's Kara seemed to be enjoying the exchange too, curious of Barry's version of Winn more than anything.

Earth-1's Kara however was both intrigued by the exchange and getting increasingly annoyed at not getting the answers she had come here to readily seek, and only when both boys stopped to breathe did she force herself to speak before the whole group got lost in irrelevant conversation again.

"As fun as that is, that's not why we're here Barry, is it?"

"Oh, yeah, good point," Barry admitted, rubbing a hand to the nape of his neck in mild embarrassment, looking to his Kara before he looked to the original. "My Kara here, she's a clone."

Winn's eyes now focussed on the shorter-haired woman, curious at the reveal of her origins. Kara Danvers paused, gazing at her counterpart and then back to Barry. "I'm sorry; a clone?" Kara asked having just assumed this was just Barry's Earth version of her. She had been ready to ask Barry how he found her and what they were doing here.

"Stray piece of hair… a meta who could clone… it's a long story," Barry said dismissively, taking a breath and not sure how to continue.

Kara Wells though continued from Barry's pause, addressing her other world twin: "I was made – created, born, whatever you want to call it – about two months ago now and have no memories of anything before that; no childhood, no school, no awkward teenage moments… I wanted to find you, Kara of Krypton to find out more, to get insight into who I am, who we are, and maybe then I can feel I have a place in the universe."

Kara Danvers' expression changed from that of curiosity to genuine sadness as she put a kind hand on her clone's shoulder. "My past is my own, Kara – Keira… I wouldn't wish it upon anyone else, but I see your point, I see why you need to know who you are. Is there no Clark Kent on your Earth, no Superman?" She looked to Barry at this who shrugged and shook his head. "Oh." Kara Danvers briefly wondered what Krypton history was on Barry's Earth – questions she would probably never get answers for.

"Are you not going to help me? To help yourself?" Kara Wells asked, dejected and suddenly a bit angry, "Because if you want me to fight you for something, I'm willing…"

"I think we'd be an equal match," Kara Danvers winked to her clone at this, "besides I don't want to fight you for it. I don't want to give you memories I would kill to have taken away – the heartache and the disillusionment."

"But I want that! I want to know what it was like growing up on Krypton, on our home; I want to know what our parents were like, the language we spoke. Even the hardships, the loss and heartache. I need that. I can't be anyone if I'm not you. If I'm not Kara of Krypton."

"Kara Zor-El," Danvers corrected in a deadpan tone, a million thoughts and ideas running past her mind while the three men watched them in silence, "of the House of El" she continued. "If you want to be Kryptonian, houses are important. Mine – ours, was one of the most powerful until the destruction of the planet."

"See! Even I didn't know that! How am I meant to be Kryptonian, how can I embrace who I am if I don't even know where I come from, what my history is meant to be? I mean, I know it's not meant to be the same – I'm a clone after all – but what's the point in living if I have nothing to live for? No memories –"

"Shush," Kara Danvers muttered holding up a hand. "You don't need to convince me anymore. Clark told me his Fortress of Solitude has a magnitude of alien tech, including… yeah… I hope it will work. Kara… what's your last name on the other Earth?"

"Wells," Kara Wells couldn't help but smile at this, fond of Harry whom she had welcomed back in her life pretty quickly. Fond even of her adoptive sister, who she had yet to really meet while she was unconscious.

"Kara Wells? Not bad. Well then, Kara Wells, we're going to take a trip to the North Pole!" Kara Danvers grinned, giving Winn a knowing look.

"I'll come too," Barry immediately interjected, not wanting to be away from the Karas.

"No. If Supergirl is out of town, then The Flash will be needed to keep an eye out for any misfortunes that may befall National." Kara Danvers warned Barry, whose face fell at this.

"But Winn said, since your uncle…" he tried.

"Doesn't mean this weekend's going to be quiet. Lex Luthor's strange sister is in town and giving Maxwell Lord a run for his money, and you know what a pain in my ass Max is," Kara Danvers pointed out.

"Nice try, man," Cisco patted Barry on the back at this seeing the face Barry made.

"See you soon then, Barry" Kara Wells moved forward, a gleeful look on her face as she pecked Barry on the cheek then moved back.

"Do you know how to fly?" Danvers asked.

"Sure. Pretty good with manoeuvring – was the first thing I really perfected with Alex," Wells stated.

"You know Alex?" Danvers grinned, glad that at least her adoptive sister still existed on Barry's Earth. "Right, anyway, follow me." In a second, Kara Danvers' clothes were on the floor, a flash of blue and red streaking out of the open window as she was followed by her double in the casual attire.

"Two Karas…" Winn stated, a little dreamily as he stared at the spot they had been.

"That was so cool!" Cisco added, either about the exchange, the flying, Kara's Super-suit or all three, but then he seemed to come back to himself as he added to Barry: "So is Winn the guy who can help me make my Vibe goggles?" Barry nodded, eyes still on the open window.

"Vibe goggles?" Winn asked, suddenly distracted and intrigued.


	4. The Making of Kara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prime Kara gains the Kryptonian memories of her double - and more, while Barry comes across a mysterious female warrior.

The two Karas landed on the rocky, icy, clifftop in the artic, neither women feeling the cold, but vaguely aware of it as they momentarily took in their surroundings.

"I've only ever been here about two or three times," Kara Danvers confessed to her counterpart as Kara Wells looked over to the icy horizon, amazed at the location, and at the way they had flown unnoticed – amazed by everything, in fact. She turned to look at her other self, a small smile on her face.

"Where is 'here' though?" It was a genuine question as the clone Kara wasn't sure why they had come all the way here.

"Like I said, this my cousin's Fortress of Solitude," Kara Danvers stated, crouching down as she looked for something. Kara Wells would have followed her gaze in the search had her eyes not found something else to distract her: embedded on the icy wall of what looked like the cliff-face, on eye-level, was a symbol; an 'S' enchased in a shape resembling a traditional diamond. It was strangely beautiful.

"What is this?" Kara Wells asked looking of the symbol as Kara Danvers looked up. "You have it on your outfit too. What is it?"

"The symbol of the House of El – humans would call it a house crest. Traditionally it means 'stronger together', but lately it's been known as a symbol of hope," Kara Danvers said still looking around. "Give me a minute here, I've got to find…" before Kara Danvers could finish her sentence or Kara Wells could ask what she was looking for Kara Danvers suddenly shouted, "Here it is!"

Kara Danvers stood up, a long metallic-looking yellow rod in her arms. It looked heavy, but the Wells woman knew her strength, knew it wouldn't weight that much for someone of their calibre. "Here, catch!" Danvers suddenly called, chucking the thing at her double; she catching it with ease but surprised by how heavy it actually was. "Dwarf Star Alloy" Danvers stated knowledgeably, "no idea how Kal, sorry, Clark, knew how to obtain this much. Go on, place that end over the symbol."

"I know a guy who's quite knowledgeable of Dwarf stars," Wells stated as she did as she'd been instructed, obviously talking about Ray Palmer as Dwarf Star technology was sort of his key area of knowledge, what with using its ability to shrink his Atom suit. "Didn't realise how heavy the stuff is."

"That's nothing," Danvers responded as the key touched the symbol, which moved inward before the wall began to rise, Kara Wells dropping the key as Danvers continued, "just wait until you're lifting an entire Kryptonian Prison ship! I mean it wasn't made of kryptonite, but there were elements from home on there, making it more… I dunno, harder to manage, I suppose."

"See, that's what I'm missing," Wells stated as Danvers led her over the threshold, she suddenly caught out of breath as she took in the might of the Fortress, the statue of two humanoids, the alien artefacts and relics. It all felt so… homely and yet so foreign and alien at the same time.

"Good evening Kara Zor-El and Kara Zor-El," a small robot, not unlike Alpha 5 from that Power Rangers show Alex had forced Kara to watch a few weeks back, addressed the pair, Kara Wells backtracking quickly at being addressed with the Kryptonian name and surprised that the robot didn't seem phased by the two identical Karas.

"Hi Kal-X" Kara Danvers addressed the robot, "I'm kind of hoping you can help me – well, us."

"How may I be of assistance, Miss Zor-El?" the robot addressed the official Kara politely, Kara Wells smiling fondly at the little robot, despite the sudden ludicrousness of the situation now.

"Kal-El mentioned the many technologies he's collected over the years, there was mention a few weeks ago of a memory-transplant device, I wonder if it works and if so, how it can work?"

"Yes," Kal-X responded brightly, "its origins are unknown but I have easily been able to work out how to use it. It has the ability to give others false memories, able to implant ideas and thoughts, maybe to confuse an attacker or hope to gain sympathy from an enemy. Why is it you want it?"

"Well, you see my twin here?"

"Kara Zor-El wasn't born as a twin. I had no information to react to your other self than to identify her as you," Kal-X responded, a simple 'yes' not being in his data banks it seemed.

"She's a clone." Kara ignored the twin-thing. "She has no memories, no history of Krypton and I was wondering, well hoping really, if I would be able to give her my memories, and hopefully still keep them for myself too?" There was hope in her voice as Kara Wells now looked between the robot and her double, her eyes suddenly wide.

"It can be done. Kryptonian technology within this facility copied your biometric data and memories the moment you walked in the fortress, I noticed an irregularity with the Kara Zor-El clone. I could copy the most recent memory scan of yourself into the memory drive and implant them safely into your clone's cerebral cortex. If I have permission?"

"Well, Miss Wells, your call." Danvers turned to look directly at her double.

"I didn't travel across dimensions, risked your career with that Grant woman, or flew hundreds of miles to turn the offer down at the last minute." Wells stated eagerly, more than ready for what she had been waiting for, for maybe her entire life. Then again her entire life was not that long, considering.

The original Kara Zor-El turned back to the robot butler, "Permission granted, Kal-X."

-PowerFlash-

Barry had watched the two geeks go at it for what felt like hours. He was of course a geek himself and knew a lot of the mechanics of the device Cisco and Winn were cooking up, but he wasn't paying too much attention, wondering what this world's Kara's plans were with his Kara, and also wondering what the next villain of this world he would be facing – the last time he was here he'd faced Livewire and Silver Banshee, but Kara had shown him some of the ones they had in lockup in the DEO too.

He'd hate to face up against someone like Maxima or that White Martian creature, glad his Earth didn't have more than just Kara as an alien occupant – and she had been a mistake, albeit a happy one.

"Barry?"

"Huh?" Barry blinked, his mind lost on his previous incursion to this world when Winn's voice dragged him out of the blissful abyss, he glancing to the two computer techs, both of who had worried expressions. "What do you want me to get now?" He had collected a few components for the pair to make the new goggles since the Karas had departed.

"I said we have incoming. But she's already here!" Winn stated, a little annoyed as Cisco chuckled to himself.

"She… who?" Barry moved forward to look at the monitor, looking between the pair to a yellow streak, of sorts, being tracked by police cameras on one of the computer screens.

"Another speedster?" Barry was in his Flash suit once more in seconds, even before Winn could answer.

"Not exactly… she's… Oh, he's gone. Does he always do that?" He turned to Cisco who had rammed an earpiece into his ear canal and was already working. Winn was not used to that; in fact, the last time he had done anything like this was when facing up to Indigo and even then he had been surrounded by DEO agents; this was just him and Cisco in a little office at CatCo on a Friday evening. Granted the WiFi was better than DEO because Cat wanted it so, without realising she had the best in National, of course, but still this was new to him.

Barry, however, came to stop just ahead of the yellow streak, which came to a full stop in front of him, the speedster blinking in shock at what he was seeing.

"What are you?" The woman, if it could be called a woman, asked, baring her claws.

"More to the point, what the hell are you?" Barry asked, not even aware of how ludicrous this sudden standoff was becoming.

"They call me Cheetah, and I'm just passing through," she hissed at Barry, who didn't wait as he decided to move forward, aiming a hit which she easily dodged, "but I can see you're going to be a pain!" She retaliated, baring her claws more as she scratched and kicked, quite the adversary. And then she ran, Barry not even waiting as he followed.

She was faster than any speedster he had faced before, giving him quite literally a run for his money and wondering why Zoom didn't go for her instead of Jay – although this one didn't seem to be an actual speedster, the fact she looked more like a human Cheetah, and was called a Cheetah, a clue to her power's origins.

"How do you guys have such meta-humans? Is she an alien?" Barry asked into his com to both Winn and Cisco, the latter obviously not having a clue and Winn not too sure either.

"Well, Livewire was created through a freak accident with Supergirl, and Siobhan got her powers apparently through a curse directly linked to the anger within her, although I don't believe in that kind of magic…" Winn went on, trying to figure it out himself. "I've never seen Cheetah this close or powerful though."

"You know of her?" Barry shouted as he pushed himself forward, running faster and faster, beyond what he thought he was even capable of when suddenly Cheetah vanished. "What?!" He called as he skidded to a quick stop, about to double back when something landed ahead of him.

A woman, slightly tanned, dressed in ancient warrior attire and a headdress, held Cheetah high in her arms – she had literally seemed to have flown in like Kara, although Barry was suspecting an inhumanely long jump, and had obviously gone straight for the cat woman. Her eyes met Barry's as Cheetah struggled above her; she gave him a small smirk and then streaked back into the air. Gone.

"Okay, who was that?" Barry asked in shock.

-SuperFlash-

She was a little girl, barely two or three years old, holding her father's hand. He had to lean down a little so as to keep contact with his daughter, but he didn't mind as they strolled under the red sun, the little girl taking in the world that was her home, the amazing buildings and the ships that flew passed, the other people around her. They were on a field of yellow grass, it warm under her bare feet and she laughed as her father suddenly scooped her up onto his shoulders…

Now she was five, maybe six, and she was in her room overlooking the city. Her aunt Astra was with her, a device in her hand as she spoke in Kryptonese, their natural tongue, together, the elder teaching the younger about the stars, the galaxy. Kara soaked in the information, loving anything her aunt taught her. Maybe it was because she looked like her mom, maybe it was because aunt Astra just radiated love for her niece, Kara didn't know, and at that age didn't care…

At ten she was in the corridors of her family home, peeking through a door at the two identical sisters arguing. She had never seen the women, her mother and aunt, argue like this before. The words were obscure but the meaning behind them was clear as her mother seemed to disown her sister there and then, the shock forcing Kara to move back and trip over her father's feet. She was punished for eavesdropping, but she never found out what the two had truly argued about that day.

Her aunt had been gone for a while. The last Kara saw of her was when she had used their spy toys to contact her. Kara didn't even know if she would ever see her aunt again.

Rumours spread around Krypton like a wild fire. Tales of death. Kara didn't want to believe it, but at twelve she was her own person now and her friends had been telling her for months of the planet's apparent demise. Kara had gone against her mother, rebelling so as to find out the truth and when her worried parents found her they had to reveal all, reluctant though they were, and planned ahead.

She was thirteen and her cousin Kal-El was being born. She had gone to see the baby in the birthing clinic, her Aunt Lara letting her hold the little one almost immediately. Lara wept as she knew Kara would possibly be more of a mother to Kal than she would ever be – Kara knowing of their plans to live beyond Krypton's impending doom.

It was time of panic on the planet; war, as all sorts of bad events, happened at once – her uncle, Jor-El, had fought an almost losing battle against Dru-Zod, who wanted to save a planet that was doomed from the start. It was chaos and all Kara could do was cling tightly to her family as they made final preparations to send both Kal-El and herself away. She didn't want to go; she didn't quite understand death yet at such a tender age, but she knew she'd be with her mother and father no matter what. She'd learned family was important in the past year.

Tears were streaming down her face as the planet she knew as home imploded, collapsing in on itself in a matter of seconds, a shockwave blasting out from the pressure, rocking her pod, the electrics going wild but she didn't care, all she could do was cry for her mother, her father, her family and her people. All the heritage, all the memories… all gone.

Suddenly she had crashed landed on the Earth and a man who looked like her uncle was leaning over her, wearing their house symbol upon his chest and trying to explain who he was in a very bad variation of Kryptonese. She knew she had failed at what her mother wanted her to do, knowing she had not protected Kal-El, and not yet knowing why. What had happened to make the baby become the man before her…

Quick flashes of memories suddenly encased Kara Wells' mind as she experienced Earth-3 first-hand through the eyes of her double, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she sped through over ten years in a few seconds compared to what seemed like years of Kryptonian memories, coming back to the here-and-now, the Fortress of Solitude and Kal-X between the pair, holding a thin blue rod to Kara Wells' scalp. She collapsed as the memories overwhelmed her, Kara Danvers only just catching her.

"You said it wouldn't harm her!" The original Kara called to Kal-X, who sped off to put the memory device back where it had come. Kara Danvers heading right for her clone and looking her over.

"It won't, Miss Zor-El; her mind needs to process all the memories. It will take time. Kryptonian minds are resilient though," Kal-X informed her upon his return.

"And she remembers? All my memories from Krypton? What about after that, on Earth?"

"The Krypton memories are the ones she needed more," Kal-X reflected, "but she did collect your memories here as Kara Danvers. Those will fade quickly though as those aren't her own, they are not part of her parallel Earth."

"Good," Kara nodded, secretly glad this Kara wasn't going to turn into an exact copy of her – she was happy she had gotten the memories treasured of home, but Eliza and Alex, Cat and Winn… they were hers and no one was going to take that away from her.

"How long was that? She sort-of went into a trance when you put the device on her…?"

"Three and a half Earth hours, Miss Zor-El," Kal-X replied noncommittally.

"Wow, it didn't seem that long!" Kara whistled appreciatively. "Am I okay to move her? I should probably take her back to Barry."

"Barry Allen is the Flash. Kal-El has collected much information about the speed-force and the speedster himself since his first time on this planet, including those of his elder double here on this Earth. Please, give the parallel Kara Zor-El these when she wakes to take back with her," Kal-X had gone to a hidden part of the Fortress and returned with what Kara assumed was some sort of Kryptonian goodie-bag, albeit in the form of a small sphere. "It is compatible with this Earth's technology; by logic it should also be compatible with others."

"And what is it?" Kara Danvers asked, trying to look through it with her X Ray vision but unable to. In fact, she couldn't even tell what the object was made of.

"Hope, information, and memories," Kal-X responded conspiratorially.

-PowerFlash-

"What's the chances that that… thing comes into town the moment Kara leaves?" Barry asked back in the Supergirl Office, ripping off his mask as he faced Cisco and Winn with a little annoyance.

"It wasn't your fight," Winn pointed out.

"Yeah, about that, who was the other woman?" It was dark outside now, the night setting in nicely and Barry was, for once, not thinking about Kara, too curious of the warrior woman who had stopped that speeding cheetah girl.

"Xena?" Cisco suggested, glancing coyly to Winn before he added, "But Barry, do you realise how fast you were going? Caitlin's going to freak when we get back!" Cisco continued in excitement. Barry had never gone that fast without the speed canon / tachyon device before.

"If we can get back," Barry warned. "How are you getting on with the new goggles?"

"Oh what, these?" Cisco pulled up a very odd-looking version of the Reverb goggles he owned, made from odds and ends found about the city – Barry noticed the butchered remains of a cell phone among other things.

"Those are going to work?" Barry asked, sceptically.

"Winn and I make a good team! Shame he won't come back with us," Cisco added, glancing at his latest pal.

"I have my place here with Kara and James," Winn stated, a little subdued now as he had obviously got on well with Cisco.

Barry sat back down on the couch, looking at the pair as Cisco rolled his eyes at the Flash's nonchalant manner, turning back to give his goggles the once over as the speedster looked back at Winn, "So, Cheetah and the Warrior… what's their story?"

"Not a clue," Winn replied truthfully, "Cat calls her 'The Amazonian', Perry White though dubs her 'Wonder Woman' –"

"Perry has tastes. Wonder Woman – unusual and kinda catchy," Cisco interrupted before Winn continued, slightly taken aback.

"Well anyway, she's kind of… well, her records go back for hundreds of years, but like I said, I don't know much. She's been friends with Kara's cousin from what I can gather, but James has never spoken to her and I'm not exactly friends with Clark Kent, myself." The technician seemed to pout at this as he added quickly, "but no clue about Cheetah – she's new, but dubbed herself that title back in Metropolis last week. Pretty obvious title that though, I suppose." This he added, glancing to Cisco who didn't seem to have heard.

They were all saved from responding when there was a rush of air and Barry found himself on the floor, a familiar woman in a floral dress and sweater laying on the seat as Supergirl addressed him;

"You faced Cheetah?" She had obviously heard their conversation with her super-hearing from afar.

"What happened to her? Is she okay?" Barry ignored Supergirl's question to move by his Kara's side.

"She'll be fine" Kara immediately reassured Barry. "She's been given a copy of my memories thanks to some salvaged alien tech. So, what happened here?"

"Cheetah and The Amazonian turned up," Winn told Supergirl, jumping up at the sight of her, and using Cat's title for the superheroine which Supergirl obviously preferred.

"Shame I missed that. Clark said he would introduce me to her, but three superheroes… well, we haven't exactly found the time," Supergirl pouted herself now as she turned back to Barry and placed a hand on his shoulder, seeing the look on his face as he stared at the unconscious Kara on the couch. "Barry, she's going to be fine. I think it may be best for her to wake up in her world, surrounded by her friends, just in case she latches on to my life instead. I mean, I'm happy to have two Supergirls protecting National, but I think this one deserves to be by your side. Plus, Maxwell would go ballistic with two of me about…"

Cisco stood, realising his time here was at and end, but before he put on the new goggles he turned to Winn. "I'll send you postcards, throw them through a breach into your lap if you want?"

"Hah, I'd like that. I'm sure Kara would like to know how her double is doing too. Let me know about the suit too… Oh, and before I forget!" Winn moved his hand to the back of his neck and removed a necklace he had been covering the whole time. Barry and Supergirl watched on in mild humour as a Superman or Supergirl memorabilia necklace – they were both the same, a silver-cast symbol of El on a chain – appeared in Winn's hand, which he passed over to Cisco. "It may be a help."

"Thanks man!" Cisco clasped the necklace in his palm before going in to hug his new friend.

Barry looked at Supergirl. "We barely got to talk," he stated, a little downtrodden now.

"Write me a postcard" Supergirl winked as Barry couldn't resist a grin. "Come back some time soon though. I could always use my partner."

"Maybe we will come and visit, so you two can catch up." He glanced to the Kara on the couch, trying not to remember the other time she lay unconscious – in STAR Labs when her connection to Duplicate had been severed – "and then we can get ice cream."

"I'd like that, Flash." Supergirl pulled Barry in for a tight squeeze, resisting using her full strength of course, as she whispered in his ear: "This has been educational."

They pulled apart, Barry looking to Cisco, now in the new goggles, with his hand outstretched.

"You can do that anywhere?" Winn asked, Kara now having no clue what was about to happen, as Cisco didn't reply, just concentrated and smirked.

Barry scooped up his Kara in his arms and turned to see that the goggles must have been working – the familiar blue glow was encasing Cisco's hand once more, it expanding quickly as Supergirl gasped. Barry moved behind Cisco and glanced to Supergirl. "Keep back, the moment we go through it will close tightly." Supergirl and Winn nodded as Barry vanished in a streak of red before Cisco followed – Barry having come back through to grab Vibe.

Then the breach, indeed, snapped shut.

-PowerFlash-

Caitlin had been in a panic. Ray had managed to calm her down, but still, it was only when Harry returned an hour after Cisco had been pulled through his own breach by that horrible spectre that the bio-engineer took some calming breaths. Cisco was resourceful, Harry had reminded her, he'd find a way to get back – they had found his Reverb glasses on the floor too, but Cisco had explored that thing inside and out several time to get to know how they worked, he could recreate it.

It seemed Harry was right – five hours after they had left, the sudden rippling portal stretched out space exactly where it had been before, there was a flash of lightning and Kara Wells lay on floor, another flash and the Flash and Cisco, complete with odd-job glasses appeared to all. Barry, as usual, ripped off his mask to run over to Kara, while Caitlin wrapped her best friend in a big hug, Cisco grinning in spite of himself.

"I never saw that thing coming. Was that… him?" She asked in the hug, slightly tearful.

"Sort of. I don't want to think about it. He was gone when I reached the other side though," Cisco admitted, mentioning the black wraith that had taken him through his own breach. He nodded at a grinning Ray behind Caitlin before his friend withdrew from the embrace.

"What happened?" Caitlin asked, but Cisco quickly waved her off, moving over to Barry who was crouched, with Harry, over the still-sleeping Kara.

"Jay's world isn't dead," Barry was telling Harry as the other scientist checked his adopted daughter's eyes for any sign of concussion – or anything at al. He made a mental note to talk to Alex when she returned to know how they checked Kara's health at ARGUS. "He comes from Earth-3! Cat Grant let it slip that he was the protector of their Central City. I wonder how Jay could have gone so wrong?"

"Wait, Ms. Grant said that?" Cisco cut in as Barry looked up to him.

"Yeah, she mentioned something about Kara's cousin and a Starman, I thought David Bowie, but obviously…"

"It seems these other worlds have a lot more to offer, Mr. Allen," Harry stood up, his hand clenched around something as he stated, "it is possible though that Jay overshot his Earth to that of the doomed planet, or he wasn't concentrating hard enough on his. We still have a lot to figure out about interdimensional travel and I believe Doctor Stein may help us."

"Stein's back?" Barry asked, distracted by this comment.

"Mr. Palmer's here; it's only a matter of time before his time-travelling companion returns, too" Harry speculated.

"What's that?" Barry nodded to the thing in Harry's hand.

"Kara, she had it on her…" Harry stated innocently, Barry moving too fast for him as he claimed it from the man's hand. "Hey!" Harry protested.

"It's solid…" Barry observed, not seeing any seams.

"Yeah, and the metal, it's… unusual" Ray had moved in, looking the object over in Barry's hand.

He didn't think – Barry just acted. Vibrating both his hands in the opposite directions, he cracked the sphere, it falling into two complete halves and revealing three objects: two of what looked like pen drives and a container with a few drops of dark blood. There was note, it looked to be printed and was in an unusual and unrecognizable font:

_The larger is a holographic drive which Kara Zor-El will find useful and informative. The smaller is a memory storage device, containing all the memories of Kal-El up until his last visit to the Fortress. The vial contains Kal-El's blood – use it wisely. Keep all three safe. – Kal-X, last relic of Krypton._

Barry looked up at Cisco at this, Caitlin, Ray and Harry remaining silent as there was a sudden gasp and Kara was sitting up. Barry was by her side in a flash, the others turning to her, as she looked around, confused.

"Barry? What… I remember… Oh, so much…" she lolled her head back on her shoulders and shook it, "I'm Kara Wells, right? I keep thinking Danvers… Eliza…"

"You're Kara Wells indeed," Harry said this, moving once more to her other side as she looked at him and smiled. "I take it, it worked? Whatever 'it' is."

Kara was about to reply when she noticed the things in Barry's hand – a clenched up piece of paper and three odd objects. She could just make out the word 'Kal-X' on the paper. "He wrote to me?"

Barry looked to the things in his hands, then shrugged to himself. What harm could it do? These objects were clearly meant for Kara anyway and given to her by the other Kara and this Kal-X relic. He handed the paper and objects to Kara, the paper she read with speed before putting a hand over her mouth in shock. "Did Kal-X expect us to clone Kal-El? And a holographic drive?" She jumped up, turning to Cisco. "Plug it in."

"What?" Cisco asked, as she forced the drive into his hand.

"Plug it in, I have to know what it contains." Kara practically pleaded this.

Cisco glanced to Barry before sighing and moving over to their computer banks. They had holographic technology since Barry lost his powers to Zoom, using it with skill against the evil speedster with Caitlin a few months ago, so it wasn't hard to direct the projection into the room – the drive was extremely compatible with their computers; Cisco had had no problems working with Winn's computers after all.

Kara moved forward as a flicking image of a woman in a blue dress with long, flowing black hair appeared in the room. She was smiling in Kara's direction and Kara smiled back at her, her heart lifting for the first time since Barry agreed to take her to Earth-3. She felt Barry's hand entwine in hers now as she whispered to the holographic figure: "Mom?"

"Hello sweetheart" the woman replied.

Kara no longer felt so alone.


	5. A Powerful Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara does her official first act as a hero, with Barry to guide her.

"Duplicate?" Cat Grant sighed, leaning back in her chair to reread the article from the clone meta's attack the other day. "Girder? Blackout? Really?" She sat in her new makeshift-office on the other-side of the Central City Picture News' floor, looking across to Iris who sat on the desk opposite her. Cat didn't look amused and, in fact, looked slightly disappointed that such names had been created, leaning forward in her chair now she removed her glasses as she contemplated. "It seems this city lacks creativity."

"With all due respect, Ms. Grant," Iris risked, sitting on the opposite side of the desk and wanting to defend her friend who had named all but one of the so far mentioned metas, "they are unofficial titles, named by those at STAR Labs –"

"That's another thing," Cat now stood, momentarily glancing to the flat screen TVs temporarily stacked across high desks against the back wall for any development on other news networks. "STAR Labs has been in seclusion, should we say, for nearly two and a half years now. Ever since the accident they seem to have been only focussing their efforts on clearing up their messes and helping their token hero, the Flash."

"So?" Iris countered. "Considering the damage they initially did in changing so many people…"

"They need a new market. They need to reopen and reveal themselves openly to the public, to not be the bad guys they're so far associated by. The face of Harrison Wells is no longer their trademark; a fast man in a red suit is their slogan, and they need to market that. I need contacts, people who I can convince if you're not willing to do so yourself."

Iris wasn't sure what to say to this now. Who would be willing to talk to the press to 'change their image' out of the gang, and how damaging would it be if Earth-2's Harry was discovered to be there, when his likeness was meant to be dead? She wasn't sure how far he'd gotten along into getting an identity since his return, having barely seen Barry or anyone from the Labs since Cat made Iris her Personal Assistant. Was it worth calling up Caitlin, maybe? She didn't want to put STAR into any more negative light than they had already been these past few years.

"On another note," Cat moved back to her desk, lowing her voice slightly as she leaned upon the desk, "the profile on that clone making meta-human I'd like in my inbox by the end of the day. The people know she made another Flash and that strange blond girl several weeks ago, but they need to know who she was, what she was capable of and, most importantly, that they, the public, are safe from her."

"Yes Ms. Grant" Iris mumbled, her judgement clouded now by Cat's presence. She had never done so much work before and it seemed like her life revolved around Cat Grant and CatCo, but with the addition of screening others capable of taking over her job as Cat's PA, she didn't really have much time to think beyond Ms. Grant's words these days.

-PowerFlash-

"Doctor Snow!" Harrison was calling over the speaker system at STAR Labs, there was panic in his voice as he cried to the doctor again, Caitlin rushing to this location on every syllable of desperation to find a sorry situation. Harry was trying his best, but Jesse was clearly suffering from multiple heart palpitations and no matter what he did, nothing seemed to be working.

"This happened to Barry while he was in his coma!" Caitlin cried, moving over to Harry's side to pull him away from his daughter. "And a clouded judgement isn't going to help her. I need to stabilize her vitals before anything else. Pass me the liquid sedatives, I need to pump it into her system quickly."

Harry did as was instructed, Caitlin quickening the process, remembering – as if on instinct – what the fake Harrison Wells had done to keep Barry in check during his less-than-great moments while comatose. She hadn't known at the time, but Eobard Thawne knew exactly how to help the Flash and by learning from him then, she would help Jesse now. Thawne's evil would be put to some good.

Within a few minutes Jesse's vitals dropped dramatically though, Harry's panicking not helping and only when Caitlin used the defibrillating paddles did it yield results, but only briefly before she starting dropping again.

"Keep trying!" Harry insisted after the fourth attempt, by which time Ray had joined them, he having lingered in STAR Labs for some days now, with Caitlin seeming to be the one to truly benefit from his lingering – especially since she seemed much happier around the goofy scientist since he'd turned up.

"What's wrong?" Ray moved around Harry to see Caitlin jump-starting the young girl. "Too many times and you'll cause irreparable damage." Ray pointed out a little warningly.

"Don't you think I know that?" Caitlin snapped, Ray backing off now.

"Call Allen," Harry suddenly stated. "Now!"

Neither questioned the man as Ray reluctantly took over, Caitlin calling up her friend who was currently at work, not having a clue what was happening at STAR Labs; he was at the Labs though within seconds however, a look of panic and determination on his face as Ray was forced to jump-start Jesse again, she looking even worse for wear now from when she'd first arrived in her comatose condition.

"What…?" Barry asked, moving over to Jesse's side as he looked to Caitlin once more, she looking worried as Harry didn't waste time by playing games now.

"The speed-force Barry, whatever you did last time – do it again!" Harry snapped to the Flash.

"But it didn't…" Barry had no clue what was going on, worried for everyone as he looked to Caitlin again then to Ray.

"We're losing her!" Ray suddenly shouted, Barry looking panicked as he glanced back to Harry.

He reached for Jesse's hand, just like the first time he'd brought her out of her sleep, but instead of a simple spark passing between the pair, Barry felt something much different. No-one knew what had happened until there was a crack of unmistakeable thunder within the room and a flash of bright electric light, Barry feeling himself pass through his own hand and into Jesse; a residual ghost of the speed-force which had been only in himself. Until this moment.

Jesse gasped and then moaned, Barry blinking several time to rid the light that had flashed up as his skin made contact with hers to see Jessica Wells' eyes opening, a look of momentarily panic on her face before a small smile crossed over her lips. "Barry…?" she asked simply.

"Yeah," Barry replied, a small smile across his face as there was a sudden movement and Harry was by his daughter's other side, tears tracking down his face as the stress and worry of the past week finally erupted. He was grinning in spite of himself and Jesse, looking tired and slightly lost, patted her dad on the hand closest to hers, both resting on her bedside table as he let loose on his emotions.

"Jesse," Kara was by the door, she having appeared out of nowhere but having in fact been in her makeshift training room, as usual, until this moment. She was grinning at seeing her foster sister awake and her father ecstatically happy by her bedside. Jesse blinked at the girl she didn't know calling her name and smiled, slightly confused.

"I need to check you over," Caitlin voiced a little timidly now, although feeling relieved that they hadn't lost Jesse this time around.

Ray looked pleased at this, not doing too well in these sort of life-or-death situations, so he was the first to leave, followed by a rather reluctant Harry and finally Barry, who still had Jesse's hand in his. He squeezed the hand momentarily before walking into the Cortex, Harry leaning against the glass to look in on his daughter while Kara stood resolutely beside him, not saying a word.

"Busy morning?" Cisco walked into the Cortex, noticing everyone congregating before looking beyond into the medical wing and grinning. "She's awake! Excellent! How long 'til she wants to leave again though?" He winked at Barry who couldn't help but smile at this.

"I think she's a speedster though, like definitely a speedster." Barry moved over to Cisco, Ray listening in as Barry quickly explained to Vibe about what he felt when he made contact with Jesse, the noise and the light, the sheer science fiction of the event.

"Man that sounds awesome. Shame I missed it." Cisco moved to the computer banks to take up his daily position, Ray taking the spare seat Caitlin normally occupied. "I wonder what it was like for her though?" Cisco suddenly voiced. "I mean; she was in a coma like you, but only for a week. I remember when you went into that condition, more than once. Wells – Eobard – helped but never made contact with your skin, usually wearing gloves during that time. I reckon he didn't want to wake you too early, knowing how long you had to be out, and being a speedster himself…"

"It's a thought," Barry replied a little coolly, not wanting to think of the Reverse-Flash, all the hell the yellow speedster had put him through.

"You've made her a suit." This was Ray, he was looking at Cisco deeply, analysing his features, the look in his eyes, realising what Cisco's excitement had meant.

"So what if I have? If she's going to be a speedster, the mere G-Force she'll have to face, normal fabrics wouldn't survive – I only want to save her wardrobe. Girls are all about that after all, their clothes."

"Jesse spent a week in second-hand STAR Labs merchandise," Barry pointed out, bemusedly. "Granted, she'd just had been rescued from Zoom, but clothes really aren't her forte."

"They will be when she sees what I've cooked up for her," Cisco smirked.

"It's pretty cool actually," Kara had joined them, being the only one who had seen the suit so far. Barry looked back to see Caitlin talking to Harry and Jesse, still on the bed and conscious.

"She's feeling alright?" Barry asked, cutting off conversations of Cisco's sewing skills before he got into a self-righteous rant.

"Yeah, a little woozy from all the CPR before you saved her but otherwise right as rain. Dad's explaining to her about what she may now be facing, what she's like… along with explaining me." Kara didn't quite meet either men's eyes at this, Barry knowing that Harry really hadn't explained about adopting an alien clone as Jesse's sister, but he'd assured Kara on more than one occasion since her and the Wells' return that Jesse would love her nonetheless.

He was about to reassure Kara again when familiar alarm bells rang out on the computers, Barry not even asking Cisco what was up before he was in his Flash suit and looking over Vibe's shoulder.

"There's an attack by the waterfront. Several people seemed to have drowned on land, this isn't good," Cisco muttered, pulling up security footage for the three looking over his shoulder now. "Oh, that's kind of cool… in a bad way." On the screen was a tall humanoid figure, except he was completely see-through and looking like he was made of water. In fact, he probably was as Cisco played back footage from one of the street camera of something jumping from the water's edge on a group of teenagers, no physical entity noticeable until several of the teenagers were on the floor and choking up water – water which formed into the person they had first seen.

"You're going to need me to help," Kara suddenly stated. "I can freeze it, or maybe evaporate it…?"

"That's a good idea. If you can get him to the pipeline, we should be able to keep him contained, even as a puddle," Cisco grinned.

"No. I don't like that idea" Barry quickly pointed out as Ray now started typing up on the system, finding out where the water meta-human had gone since. Barry didn't know if he liked the idea of Kara facing a meta yet. "Can't we use Siren again? Surely her scream could disrupt the genetic structure of this water meta…?"

"I can do it Barry" Kara said calmly, "besides, Siren can't be trusted, at least without backup."

Barry bit his lip. Cisco looking around to him as he muttered, "Kara kind of also has a suit, Bar…" he nodded to Kara who, like Barry, vanished in a flash, and returned a few seconds later in the incomplete outfit Cisco had shown her a few days ago – pale-blue boots, off-white jumpsuit and matching eye mask. There were no gloves with this outfit.

"It's snug," she added to Cisco, who raised an eyebrow and mumbled 'snug?' under his breath as she turned to Barry.

"Fine," Barry sighed, "but first sign of danger and you let me go ahead, I can cocoon this water person in an air pocket if I run around him fast enough, maybe a lightning strike would disable him?" This was questioned to Cisco.

"Electricity might work. Best bet is to freeze him and shatter him. He'll be disabled long enough to being back here in pieces and in containment," Cisco thought aloud. "It seems he can exist in the smaller form somehow, but not as a whole entity. Then, once locked up I can find out who he is. There's a missing persons list still a mile long from when the accelerator exploded, many could be unknown metas now, or…"

"Dead?" Ray piped up before his face fell at Cisco's look. "Oh, yeah, we need to feel sombre about that fact. Could it also be this water guy is from Harry and Jesse's earth? Cait mentioned Zoom taking the metas from his earth to take over this one."

"Anything's possible but I thought we got most of those," Cisco stated, now mouthing the nickname 'Cait?' to Barry now, none of them having really called her that abbreviated-name much.

"Right. Then it's the Flash and Supergirl after… what do you want to call him?" Barry asked Cisco.

"Dunno yet," Cisco shrugged. "Maybe Water Menace. No…. Water Flow…. No. not that. It doesn't sound…. Oh I got it! H2–"

"No. Anything 'H2' related would just be stupid" Ray pointed out with a smirk, Cisco staring at him with slightly open-mouth.

"I suppose…" the Vibe finally muttered. "Who would think of something like that? I'll figure something out."

"Found him though," Ray pointed out now. "Another land-drowning victim by the theatre. Weird. You know what to do. Call me if you need the Atom." There was a slight longing in his voice at wanting to go back on the field as Atom – it had been almost a week since he'd put on the suit after all, but Central was Flash territory and Ray would respect that. He'd wait for Barry to ask him for help.

"And it's not Supergirl. I may have her memories but, I dunno," Kara pointed out, glancing to Barry now in indication that they should go.

"Well until I think up something better, I'll call you Supes," Cisco smirked, Kara rolling her eyes but not having anything against this as Barry nodded to her and they both sped from the Labs.

"Snug!" Cisco finally groaned aloud, remembering Kara's comment about the suit. "I'll have to do something about that…"

-PowerFlash-

Supes and the Flash stopped outside the theatre district within five seconds of leaving the Lab. It wasn't as glamorous as New York, London or even Chicago's theatres, but there were enough to put on a few shows every now and then and already the police were cordoning off the area; Joe for once not being around to give Barry the details.

Several eyes moved to the new masked hero by the Flash as the pair looked at the body, but Flash wasn't paying attention, he was looking for any signs of the water meta being near, although his eyes did fall on several wet manhole covers on this dry day. Before he could point these out to Kara, Cisco's voice called his attention on the communicator.

"Barry. You need to get back here; Jesse's went back into cardiac arrest!"

"What?!" Barry glanced to Kara, who looked worried now having heard this in her coms earpiece too. He had to make a split decision and didn't like either choice he decided on the lesser of two evils: "Supes, look to the drains, our meta may be lurking in the sewage, I should…"

"Go, Flash!" Kara demanded of him. "I've got this. I think." She already sped to one of the manhole covers, ripping it off as the Flash vanished in a gust of wind. She couldn't distract herself by thinking to Jesse, so landed in the gutter below the theatre, her x ray vision kicking in as she looked around. There was a knee-high amount of dirty water she kept away from – floating an inch above it, although having to tilt her head due to lack of height – but no sign of any strange water-made meta human.

"What's going on?" Kara asked into her coms device, wanting to know if any eyes were being kept out for the water meta and also wanting to know about Jesse.

"Any sign of Hydroman?" This was Cisco.

"Is that what you're calling him? Finally made a decision." Kara smirked, floating in the stink of the drain. "No sign. Is Jesse okay?"

"Barry brought her back again, not sure how. I think it's to do with the speed-force; it looks like he can't leave her side for the moment," Cisco stated.

"I'm on my own?" Kara was a bit nervous at this but took a breath. She could do this on her own. Barry had been on his own when he started and so were the original Kara and Clark of Earth-3 – she could do this.

"Yep. And in the sewers already – good first day on the job," Cisco teased.

"Oh shut up," Kara snapped, "can you tell me any clues as to where Hydro… whatsits-called could have gone?"

"Oh yeah, well the drainage system for the city slopes east to the processing plant – it might be an indication of where he's gone. And it's Hydroman."

"Okay genius," Kara teased, gently floating forward, heading the direction she believed to be east, "Hey, tell me something. Why exactly are we locking him up? I mean he could be an evil meta from Earth-2, he could also be some sort of bad guy turned to water… but he could equally be a good guy caught in a bad situation…"

"Above you Kara," Cisco mentioned, Kara wasn't listening however.

"I mean, okay so he killed a couple of kids by the docks and that one guy at the theatre, but he doesn't know his abilities, he could have been like Barry and Jesse – comatose until recently and just woken without realising the extent of his powers…"

"You passed him Kara."

"I know I had no control over my powers when I started; I almost killed Duplicate by blasting off her finger! If it wasn't for Barry and Alex and travelling to Earth-3 and meeting my other self –" Kara continued not even listening to Cisco.

"Kara you passed him two blocks ago!" Cisco snapped causing Kara to jump a bit and hit her head, he having had enough of her rant but amused by it nonetheless. "And whether Hydroman is killing because he can control it is irrelevant; we keep the public safe, even if it means putting away some people with powers."

"Fine, but I am not done with this topic!" Kara stated, locating the nearest manhole cover and flying out of the sewers – much to the astonishment of some of the public – to head back the way she came and away from the smell.

It wasn't hard to find the meta. He hadn't gone as far as she and Barry had initially believed and seemed to be having some sort of meltdown, pun not intended, near the college. Kara flew over the scene to see what was definitely a man, made of water, shooting jets of water in every direction, screaming in some gargled tongue as students and adults ran for cover. This time, no one seemed to be drowning, or dead, so Kara decided she wasn't going to allow Hydroman to repeat this bad move.

"Remember Kara, freeze him then shatter him – you're fast enough to get the pieces back before he does a Terminator 2 on us, okay?"

"I have a better plan," Kara stated, floating down confidently in front of Hydroman, narrowly avoiding a blast of water and ignoring Cisco's protests in her ear. "Hi, err, hello." Kara stated to Hydroman, the meta stopping in shock, seeming to calm down upon seeing her.

"You can fly?" His voice was gargled, like he was speaking through a mouth full of water, which was reason enough given his condition. Kara wasn't sure but he seemed generally surprised by the ability.

"And you're made of water. We could talk about our special abilities all day but something tells me neither of us have that time."

"What… what happened to me?" Hydroman gurgled, Kara looking as clearly as she could to his face to see he didn't look that old. Under twenty at the very least.

"Who are you?" She asked smoothly, kindly.

"Cole… Cole Denier" he muttered, "I don't know what happened!"

"Come with me. Please. I have friends at STAR Labs; they can help you. They  _will_  help you" The determination in her voice was more for Cisco's benefit, who was listening in, than for Cole's.

"STAR Labs! They exploded!" In his excitement, or fear, he seemed to solidify momentarily – or become more opaque – before going back to watery, gooey, look. Kara ignored the cameras and commentators from spectators and a building news crew as she focussed on Cole. "I was going swimming, I'm on the swim team here, and there was an explosion and then… I don't know."

"That was over two years ago Cole," Kara stated reasonably. "The world has changed since then, and so has STAR Labs."

"T-Two years?!" Cole spluttered. "But… my friends… my family."

"We'll find them. We'll help. If you just come with me?"

-PowerFlash-

"Well this is a new way of doing things," Cisco commented as Kara walked calmly and coolly into the Cortex, followed by the very watery and very unusual-looking Hydroman – Cole Denier. Cisco had looked up Cole's record to find his story matched: He was an athlete at the Central City University three years ago and had been apparently on track to go to the Olympics. He went missing on the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion. He was a good kid, Straight-B student and an only child. His family had since moved away when they had lost hope in their son's survival.

"How's Jesse?" Kara asked, giving Cole a small smile nonetheless as she looked over to the medical bay to see Barry sitting with his back to the Cortex, talking to her sister.

"It seems the speed-force needs time to stabilize in her system now that she's awake." Harry had been watching from afar as he addressed his daughter, "I think twenty-four hours will be enough to allow Barry to leave here."

"You mean he can't leave the labs until she's better?" Kara looked over her dad's shoulder to see Jesse glancing to her while talking to Barry; she forced herself not to listen in as she imagined Barry was forcing himself not to look to Kara now – her overprotective… friend. She didn't know what she and Barry were, but she didn't try to think too hard about it, especially as she felt the same way Kara Danvers had felt about him, and that was more than friends, she knew.

"I think you can talk to her," Harry replied smoothly, ignoring her question. "Ray, Ramone and myself will look over Mr. Denier. Or I'll join them in looking him over. How fascinating. Did he say he was going for a swim when the accelerator exploded?"

"Yeah," Kara muttered, looking back to her latest acquaintance to see Cisco running a device over him and Cole smiling as Ray muttered scientific terms even Kara had no clue about.

"I would suspect his DNA mutated to become part of the water, two and a half years later and his consciousness may have finally re-gained self-awareness and his body followed. Or whatever his body is. Anyway, you speak to Jesse, I'll make sure Mr. Ramone doesn't lock 'Hydroman' up for crimes against nature or something."

Kara scoffed as Harry patted her on the shoulder, he moving one way and she to the other and the doorway of the medical bay. Caitlin was by a computer, looking over thermal readings of Jesse by the looks of it while Barry leaned in to a chair, back in his day clothes; his Flash outfit back on the stand, she'd noticed.

"You need a cape," was Jesse's first words as she looked to Kara with a smirk. "And a symbol. Barry has the lightning; you need something…"

"I do like the idea of a cape," Kara stated, taking a seat next to Barry who silently put an arm around her shoulders, causing Jesse to smirk and Kara to blush. "And it helps my counterpart fly better so yeah, a cape is a must."

"So, you're my new sister, huh? I never thought dad could love another like me. I was always his Jesse Quick."

"I don't want to step on your toes! It was dad – I mean, Harry's idea, not mine. I mean, if you don't want to be sisters, I'm fine with that." She wasn't, secretly, but Jesse had lived on a pedestal in her mind ever since she'd first found out about her adopted big sister and Kara didn't want to get in her way if she was.

"It's fine, Kara, honestly." Jesse shifted position on her bed, moving up a bit more so she was sitting properly. "I'm glad dad has someone else. He can get quite suffocating at times I warn you, but with two daughters… maybe we can be treated with equal amount of love instead of just in one big blast."

"Any love will be nice," Kara smiled as Jesse glanced to Barry at this, Kara trying not to decide what this could mean, as Jesse seemed to move the conversation.

"You're an alien then? Well, an alien clone?"

"Yeah, but I have the memories of a full life now; it's pretty cool to know who I am, what I come from." Kara smiled in spite of herself.

"And you're saving Central alongside the Flash? I think you need a better name than Supergirl or even 'Supes' – yeah, I heard you." She glanced into the Cortex, having overheard the new name, where her dad and the others were now examining Cole.

"Why don't you like Supergirl?" This time it was Barry who spoke. "I liked it."

"I don't," Kara turned to him now. "It just doesn't feel right. I don't feel… super." Kara paused for a moment. "Besides, not even the other Kara liked it at first. Although it wasn't the 'super' part she had a problem with." Kara knew Earth-3's Kara problem had been the 'girl' part – Kara herself didn't mind being called a girl; she wasn't so sure about being called 'super'.

"I thought the memories of her Earth faded leaving only the Kryptonian memories?" Barry asked, a bit surprised.

"They have, but they are still there – like I'm barely able to recall. I remember her time as Supergirl best and for some reason Cat Grant yelling at me…"

Barry smiled to himself. "Cat Grant makes an unforgettable impact," he mumbled.

"Well, you are super even if you don't think so," Jesse stated switching the topic back on track.

"I feel powerful, don't get me wrong, but super? Not really. I don't deserve the title. I haven't earned it anyway." Kara avoided her sister's eyes now, and Barry's, as she pretended to look at Caitlin this time.

"You won't have to wait long though," Barry pointed out. "Cat Grant's in town. She'll be picking out a name before you have a chance – the world saw your debut today after all."

"What?" Kara looked to Barry, worried. She knew what a force Cat Grant could be.

"Yeah, the girl who stopped Hydroman and took him away peacefully. Unheard of in Central. Well, almost anyway." He indicated the TV in the wall, which had a local news channel on it. Kara saw, for the first time, what she looked like on television; outfit and all. She looked back to Barry, worry in her eyes; scared as to how she'd be perceived. Barry looked calm though as he smiled at her. "You honestly did a good job. I may have attacked first and asked questions later. But don't worry, Kara, honestly. You get used to it. And you know, I really think you need a cape."

-PowerFlash-

Cat Grant was almost all alone in her office, the working day long-since over. She stood, looking at two of the TVs behind her desk, two images paused on both – one was security footage from a few months ago during Duplicate's first incident; a girl with long blond hair was glaring below at something unseen, while the other was video footage from that day's news of the new superhero in town while talking Cole Denier down.

"They're the same girl," Cat muttered, her arms somewhat-folded as the hand with the television remote rested on her chin. "She came back to Central to do good and is friends with the Flash. This could be my biggest break. This is why I am here… EILEEN!" She turned to look through the propped-up glass panels separating her makeshift office from the rest of the floor, Iris was at her desk still typing as she was desperate to get her article done for the morning print. She looked over to Cat.

"In my office, now, Miss East," Cat demanded, using the wrong name for the journalist as usual.

Iris sighed as she moved up from her desk and strode in.

"This newcomer… this, girl in white. She took Mr. Denier back to STAR Labs, like I was saying earlier – the hub of meta-human activity. She can fly, but she's also this girl from a few months ago around the Duplicate-incident. That girl was also super-fast like the Flash and strong, according to reports at the time. I need more though. I need to know everything. I must speak to someone from STAR Labs!"

"It's seven in the evening Ms. Grant," Iris reasoned. "I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for the article on today's attack so I doubt there would me anyone at STAR now." She perfectly lied before adding more reasonably, "I'll talk to someone first thing in the morning on your behalf."

"Very well. I must be the first with this story, Eileen, it's vital to the future of this paper, to this company. You understand?" Cat stated, looking Iris up and down in thought.

"Yes, Ms. Grant."


	6. Visitor from Another Planet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alien causes problems in Central City; Cat Grant officially names Kara as a Superhero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before officially in the show, Julian Albert was credited as Julian Dorn. This is reflected in this chapter.

There was a flash of light, just outside the city. A figure emerged from the bright flash of energy, but as it was daytime, and as this was a part of the city no one batted an eyelid to, it went unnoticed. The figure was glad of this, their arrival planned, their co-ordinates researched. Ever since the Kryptonian had been detected in this region of space, this far from home and completely unprotected from the guidelines of Kryptonian law, she was the perfect target, the perfect mate.

She had done her research.

-PowerFlash-

Doctor Stein had found his way back to STAR Labs now. Clarissa, his wife, lived in Central City of course, and after spending a few days back with her after being away for some time, pun intended – Jax, his Firestorm co-partner had returned to spend time with his mother too – he had taken the opportunity to visit the Labs. Since his inclusion in the Firestorm amalgamation, Clarissa had taken up tutoring jobs, so income wasn't so much of a problem, but he did have an ulterior motive to visit STAR Labs – especially with his involvement in Team Flash and the new rumours spreading about the Lab's scientific revival thanks to CatCo Picture News.

It was nearing midday on a Tuesday when he entered the dilapidated building and made his way to the Cortex – the heart of Team Flash's home – to find two unfamiliar girls and Professor Harrison Wells, the Earth-2 variant he assumed, working away. In fact, the blond of the young girls was with Doctor Wells, looking in on the treadmill Barry usually ran on to see the second girl running with extreme speeds similarly matching Mr. Allen's as the Flash.

"A lot's happened since I've been away," Stein announced himself, the blond turning sharply to look at him while Wells didn't even seem to note his arrival.

"Professor Stein?" the blond asked, smiling as she moved over to him.

"You know of me?" Stein asked as she lifted her hand to shake his. Stein took the hand uncertainly as he looked over the girl – he had never seen her before.

"Barry and Caitlin go on about you all the time. I'm Kara Wells, you're one half of Firestorm. Ray wondered if you would be coming back. I take it those time travelling people never came back for the rest of your team?"

"Urm," Stein didn't know quite how to respond to all this, glancing again to the brunette on the treadmill. He hadn't given much thought to where Ray had gone. Stein had kind of assumed he had headed back to Star but it seemed the man was here instead.

"Oh, that's Jesse, Harrison Wells' daughter and my adoptive sister. She's also a speedster like Barry – it's a long story involving Barry losing his speed and dad trying to give it back to him."

"Give it back to him?" Stein's eyes moved to Wells now, "you re-enacted the Particle Accelerator explosion? That's an extremely dangerous thing to do."

"And it was" this time Wells turned to look at Stein, neither grimacing nor smiling, "but Barry survived and is more powerful than before, my daughter is now a fellow speedster and Mr. West is showing potential. Before long Central will have three very fast protectors, and Kara here."

"Mr. West?" Stein had been away for far too long it seemed, that was becoming obvious now. "Joe is a potential speedster?"

Harry actually laughed at this, his speedster daughter having finished on the treadmill as she joined her father and foster sister in curiosity. "Not that one. West Junior, Joe's long-lost son."

"Joe has a son? Fascinating!" Stein exclaimed, his eyes moving back to Kara however as he backtracked. "And what about you, my dear? A lot of new faces to get to know."

"I'm an alien with superpowers thanks to the Earth's yellow sun." Kara stated with a small smirk, much to Stein's shock.

"An alien? Well…" he glanced between Wells and Kara before voicing, "I've faced time-travel, immortality, meta-humans and reincarnation, but aliens… well, this is new territory. Would you mind filling me in?"

Kara seemed nervous for a moment, but this this didn't hinder her or Harry as they went on to explain about Barry breaching to Earths 3 and 4, and about the original version of Kara and that past, explaining Barry's return, Kara Wells' origins and even her training at ARGUS. Harry went on to mention Jesse's abilities and what they had discovered about the speed-force through her now. The professor, who kept repeating 'fascinating' every few minutes, seemed to hang on to their every word.

-PowerFlash-

Barry had been working all morning. Well, that is to say he got all his day's work done within five minutes and spent the rest of the time lazing around, thinking about Kara, Jesse and Wally – well, mostly Kara. Try as he might, he couldn't quite take his mind off his foster brother and Harry's daughter, but suspected that was more speed-force-related than actual thoughts toward them. If Wally were a speedster like himself and Jesse, then it would make sense he was connected to Wally like he was Jesse. Kara however…

"Hey, Bar?" Joe stuck his head in the door to Barry's Lab, Barry turning lazily on his chair to look at his foster dad who raised an eyebrow, his tone suddenly changing as he noted: "If the Captain saw you like that…"

"It's fine. I've done everything, Joe, and if Captain Singh was to look in on me, I'm fast enough to make myself look busy before he had anything to complain about." There was a boyish smirk on his face at this, which Joe couldn't help but chuckle to.

"Well, as long as Singh doesn't spot you flashing about like the hero you are… anyway, I'm not here to question your job, but to ask you to do an extra job."

"Oh yeah?" Barry jumped from his chair as he moved over to Joe, now intrigued.

"Two girls found dead of confirmed heart attacks in downtown within a block of one another. Both bodies are now down in the morgue, but I thought you'd be interested in them – unusual circumstances and everything," Joe reasoned.

"Since the Particle Accelerator explosion this place has become the heart of unusual circumstances," Barry stated as he motioned for Joe to lead the way to the elevator, not that he didn't know where to go. "I take it Julian is already there?" He asked as Joe pressed the button for the basement level on the lift.

"He's got nothing else going on since we don't have any dead metas to examine, so he took the case, even if it seems below his pay grade, but being a forensic anthropologist he knows his way around a dead body or two," Joe stated as the doors finally opened and they stepped into the elevator.

"How's he getting on with his study on deceased metas, do you know?" Barry asked, generally interested. Ever since Singh had appointed him on Cisco's request – Cisco of course being the CCPD's official meta-human liaison, still – Julian Dorn had been hands-on in looking over all the corpses of those in both STAR and the CCPD's morgue. He and Cisco were the first in the field in studying meta-human biology and so it was exciting work for both of them. Barry had met Julian on a few occasions too, like right now to examine potential meta-human attacks, and of course those times when he'd been at STAR with Cisco at the same time as Barry.

"Not a clue. You're best asking him yourself," Joe stated simply as the elevator grinded to a halt and the doors pinged open. They moved into the short corridor that led to a set of double-doors. Beyond those doors a constantly cool room was situated – it was large with several gurneys situated in a row. At the back of the room was a wall of storage coolers – looking like simple lockers although much deeper than the average locker – and windows, situated right up against the ceiling, cast a dull light in the room that the strobe lights had to constantly fight with during the day. There was an office situated next to the corridor – accessible by both corridor and morgue – which was currently empty as it's only occupant – a tall, thin, blond man in a lab coat – was currently examining a female form upon one of the gurneys.

Julian Dorn looked up at Barry and Joe's arrival and smiled a rather attractive grin at the pair. "Detective West, Mr. Allen, great to see you" he was distinctly British as he moved over to the pair, removing his disposable gloves to shake their hands, "I was hoping you'd pop by before lunch."

"Yeah, what's the story?" Barry took over, moving past Julian after shaking his hand to look at the two bodies with curiosity.

"Two females, mid-twenties, both found within minutes of one another and suffering multiple heart attacks," Dorn stated as Barry grabbed a pair of disposable gloves. Julian put on some fresh gloves too while Barry checked over the first woman.

"Any indication of heart problems in their families?" Barry asked.

"Already checked and no for either – completely unsuspected. While it's possible one could have suffered a sudden attack, the possibility of another woman having the same fate so close to the other is something we can't overlook," Dorn joined Barry as he added. "The only indication of similarities within the two is a faint genetic trace left on their lips. The same pattern but not human."

"Not human?" Barry looked to Julian, curious. "Meta, then?"

"Possibly…" There was doubt in Dorn's voice as Barry looked closer to the lips of the current woman. Neither forensic scientist said anything else for a few minutes as Barry moved off to look at the other woman before he glanced back to Joe. His foster father had an odd look on his face. "There's something odd with the DNA" Julian continued. "Most meta humans just have an extra molecular strain – one mutated DNA factor. This seems completely different, though."

"What is it, Joe?" Barry asked as Julian glanced between the living pair now, unable to avoid the look on his father's face now.

"Don't you see it?" Joe stated simply, looking at the girls' bodies himself.

"See what?" Barry asked, a little confused now, obviously not on the same thought pattern as his father.

"Both women in their mid-twenties, both of similar height, white and both are blue-eyed and blond," he covered the points as he knew them.

"They are similar, yes." Dorn thought aloud.

"You think they were attacked for their looks?" Barry asked.

"Yes and no. I think they were attacked because they look like someone similar. The same sort of thing happened in Star City last year, but that was… different." He didn't want to go into too much detail on the time when Sara had been resurrected without her soul and had sought her killer in people who looked like Thea Queen – then she had actually left actual marks on her victims, not just a possible kiss to the lips. He'd learned all this posthumously from Quentin Lance, of course.

Barry frowned as he took a step back, looking between both women before he looked back at Joe, who now had a concerned expression on his face as Julian glanced to Barry now. Then he saw it, he saw what they both looked like – who they both looked like. Kara! "Oh no…" he muttered to himself. "I need to go on lunch. Desperately." He whipped off his gloves a little too fast before rushing as quickly as humanly possible to the exit – using the stairs instead of the elevator this time.

Julian's eyebrows raised as he glanced to Joe now. "Am I missing something?" Julian wasn't stupid and he saw that Joe and Barry had somehow had a conversation he did not understand right in front of him. That was a bit annoying.

"We'll let you know," Joe stated. "Thanks for letting Barry in on this though." He patted Julian on the shoulder and was about to turn to leave when Julian suddenly spoke up.

"Err, Detective West?"

"Yeah?" Joe said stopping and turning back around to look at the young man.

"Iris," Julian muttered, not meeting Joe's eyes now as the man looked to him.

"Yes? What about her?" Joe almost demanded.

"Is she… I mean, well I don't want to impose but I was wondering…" he was stuttering through his request before he blurted out: "Is she single?"

"If you mean to ask if my only daughter has a boyfriend, then no, she is not seeing anyone." Joe cautioned, noticing Julian grin in spite of himself. "And I didn't know you knew her."

"I've seen her about here and at STAR Labs…" Julian supplied.

"Well, I'm meeting her for lunch, if she has the time I can bring her by the station if you make yourself available in half an hour?" Joe didn't like setting up dates or anything of the likes for his daughter, but she was old enough to make her own decisions and he didn't like to see a clever man like Julian not get the chance to at least make an impression, and if he liked her, well, all the better. Julian was a nice kid and Iris needed to move on from Eddie, and possibly Barry too.

"Cool," Julian responded, a little nervously now.

Joe smirked as he was allowed to leave this time, Julian moving off to his lonely office as Joe headed to the elevator.

-PowerFlash-

Barry arrived at STAR Labs to find Doctor Stein had joined their ranks, as Harry had previously predicted, who was in conversation with the scientist while Harry's daughters sat back and watched. He had no idea where STAR regulars, Cisco and Caitlin were, or even Ray now he thought about it, but he moved swiftly over to Kara without even a 'hello'.

"What's up?" Kara asked, noticing the worried look on his face.

A few months ago, Barry would have kept shut about his concerns, put on a brave face and waited until all hell broke loose, but now he knew he had to tell her what was worrying him. "Someone's after you."

"What?" Kara stared at him blankly before adding, "Who? How do you know?"

"Two victims in the CCPD greatly resemble you" Barry stated simply.

Kara actually spluttered in laughter. "Two women look like me happen to be dead, and so I'm in danger?" She couldn't help but shake her head at this.

"You don't get it," Barry kept his cool in spite of Kara's odd reaction. "These girls died of heart attacks, close to one another with no history of such health issues in either of their families. They were… kissed to death." It was the only thing that seemed to make sense – foreign, hell even alien, genetics on their lips that matched. There were no other signs of possible cause.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you right? You have two victims back at the CCPD who were kissed to death?" Stein had joined the pair, looking between Barry and Kara as he added his catchphrase "Fascinating!" with enthusiastic wonderment.

"I'm sure it's a coincidence, albeit kind of weird," Kara dismissed, looking back to Harry and not wanting her family involved in such a silly cause of worry. "Plus, I'm not likely to link lips with strangers."

"Waiting for that special person, I suppose?" Stein added thoughtfully. Kara glanced toward the doctor but her face seemed to have gone slightly redder as Stein began to mention his own wife and the special love they shared – his go-to in situations like this is seemed. Jesse smirked, as Stein didn't seem to notice how embarrassed Kara was getting.

"But whatever this person did, it forced a heart attack in those two women," Barry tried, Kara actually placing her hands on her hips now as she shook her head in a little annoyance.

"Look Barry. I know you're concerned, but I'm so much more than either one of those women, I'm sure. Look, why don't we go to lunch? You can show me that pizza place you keep going on about while keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't kiss anyone I shouldn't."

Now it was Barry's turn to blush as he silently nodded in agreement, Kara taking his hand with a glance to her sister before they both left.

It was barely half an hour later, both superheroes working on their fifth pizza each when Barry's phone went off. Glancing an apologetic look to Kara, he noticed Joe was his caller and answered without a word. "Bar, there's a third victim. Just got the call." Joe went on to tell Barry the location, as well as the fact that Julian wanted his expert eyes again, so Barry stood up. Kara frowned curiously to the speedster as he glanced worriedly to her.

"Gotta cut this date short," he stated as he put the phone away, "another body. Back to STAR? Cisco's been requested to join in and use his own 'expert opinion' in finding the killer."

"You mean Vibe them out?" Kara stood as Barry quickly paid the bill and returned. "And you called this a date, Mr. Allen. I didn't realise I'd be so lucky!"

Barry didn't really have time to think that one through as he and Kara moved off back to the Labs, a little quicker than met the eye, and met up with Cisco, Julian and Joe at the entrance – they had to slow down pretty quick before Julian was let in on the secret.

"That was fast!" Julian nevertheless greeted the pair, smiling at Kara in spite of the situation.

"Kara Wells," Kara introduced herself, waving off the speedy remark as she nodded her head to the other blond before Cisco moved forward.

"I think this may be a CSI thing only," he stated a little bit worriedly, indicating that he'd rather not have Kara around for this. "Your dad's testing Jesse again in the Cortex and Jesse seems to want some sisterly support there. You know how Harry can be."

She knew this was a way to get rid of her, but Kara nodded in agreement, quickly returning to the Cortex as Cisco led the men to the cold storage area. Barry wasn't quite sure how Cisco was going to do his 'Vibe-thing' without Julian figuring something out, but the answer was waiting for him in the form of Martin Stein.

Stein was good, Barry had to give him that, as he instructively moved Julian off, asking the anthropologist about his studies to the meta-human genome all the while moving purposefully as far away from STAR's morgue as possible.

"How does he not know you're a meta?" Barry turned his attention to Cisco now; as the pair worked on meta-human DNA in their spare time, living meta tissue from Vibe could have been extremely useful in their research.

"I barely know the guy; I don't want to go blurting about how I'm a meta-human in front of him. He's mentioned doing autopsies on the living in his past, and he's not even thirty yet! Besides, you work in the same building as him – if anything, the Flash would be a hell of a lot more interesting than the dude who can see places and open portals to other worlds."

"Opening portals to other words is a lot cooler than zipping about the place in a tight red suit," Joe pointed out as Barry stared at him in disbelief.

"Can you just do your thing?" Barry quickly interjected, turning his attention to the girl on the table and forcing himself to breathe as he noticed how extremely similar to Kara she did look – this one even had shoulder-cropped hair like Kara. Could it really be something similar to a Lazarus Pit situation Joe had filled him in on during the quick phone call?

Cisco sighed as he pulled his newly improved Vibe goggles from his deep jacket pocket – he'd modified it even more since his time with Winn on Earth-3 and so used it as much as possible in his every day Vibe life. He'd even taken apart the old Reverb glasses permanently to add bits of it to this new one. "So what, the dude kisses her and she dies? I touch the lips right?"

"Have you never kissed a girl before?" Barry groaned indignantly as Cisco glowered at him, shoved the goggled on a little too violently, and placed a finger to the woman's lips.

"Damn she's cold already…" he muttered as he nevertheless concentrated, Barry and Joe now looking to him in intrigue – it was much harder to make out him Vibing with the goggles on and they couldn't quite see his eyes through the small Plexiglas window, but the fact he'd silenced himself and seemed to be rigid-still was indication he had found what he was looking for.

Cisco suddenly ripped off the glasses, faster than even Barry could – and that was saying something – as he breathed heavily, glancing to Joe and Barry. "It's a woman! She's… it's hard to describe. She's looking for someone in particular, for Kara. Something about Kryptonians…"

"Did you see where she was?" Barry asked, his worst fears coming alive already.

"She's homing in on her. She's close… but Barry, she's also powerful. I mean I could sense the power radiating off her…"

"Well, let's hope she's never faced off with a Flash!" He was gone, leaving Cisco and Joe in a somewhat awkward silence.

Barry's costume was off its mannequin before Kara knew what had happened, but she was just as quick as she stopped the Flash before he had the chance to even leave the Cortex, let alone the facility. "You're not going without me! I heard what Cisco saw, who he saw. We face her together or not at all, okay?"

Barry didn't want to argue – well he did, but he knew it was a fight he wouldn't win – so reluctantly he nodded; Kara vanished to Cisco's hidden room and returned in a moment in her off-white and blue costume. As per her instruction to Cisco since her face off with Hydroman, the costume now had its own cape, albeit completely different to her originator's: This was slightly darker blue than her boots, was cut shorter than most to stop just below the waist and was made of a bullet-proof, powerful synthetic alloy that Cisco found very hard to even cut to shape, let alone design to work with the outfit. It looked good though.

She was still lacking in a symbol, but ever since Winn had given Cisco that Super-necklace on Earth-3, Barry was just waiting for the House of El to make its appearance on the outfit soon.

"Let's kick some female ass!" Kara stated, placing the mask on her face, causing Barry to grin as Jesse moved to the computer banks, her father at her side – she wasn't yet ready or confident to go on missions, even though Cisco had practically finished her speedster outfit, but at least she'd be talking them through via their ear pieces.

Kara took to the air as Barry took to the streets, each keeping an eye out for anything unusual, any women acting shifty. That was until something flew up and joined Kara.

A figure, slightly taller than the Woman of Steel, wrapped entirely in white shawls with her pale face only just visible through the fabric Kara couldn't see through floated above the city, Kara coming to a stop in front of her, her own heart racing.

"Kryptonian!" The white cladded woman bellowed, her voice reaching the streets below as many people's attention were drawn, camera-phones immediately shooting the odd scene as the Flash, unable to maintain height like one who could fly, did his best to keep in the vicinity, jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop to keep in with the action, but the women were slightly too high for him to reach anyway.

"What do you know of my race? What are you?" Kara asked back, forcing herself to remain calm as she took note of the zipping red blur that was Barry below them.

"Why are you so far from home?" the woman countered.

"This is my home," Kara stated, curious if this was confirmation that Krypton lived in this universe, or if this woman was playing games with her. "Why do you seek me? Why leave a trail of dead in your wake?"

"I search for a mate. I know of your recent exploits on this planet, your genetic structure. Those Earthlings were weak compared to the noble and long-lived race of Kryptonians," Kara could just make out blood-red hair beneath the white shawls.

"You look for a girlfriend in me?" This was what Kara translated from the woman's speech. "Who are you?"

"I am Maxima, Protector of Almerac, dishonoured from Crucible Academy. I have come for you, fellow planet protector."

"I'm no planet protector!" Kara raised her hands in shock. "Do you want to help protect this planet, or do you need me to help protect this Almanac place?"

"Almerac." Maxima confirmed. "But no. I simply come to fulfil my life's purpose. To find an equal in which to mate." At this she removed the shawl that covered her head, revealing a powerful face, deep botte-green eyes and larger-than-life flowing blood-red hair. She was attractive in her own way. Kara also noticed the thing glinting on the other woman's wrist.

"I think she wants to have sex with you, Kara." Jesse's voice in Kara's ear almost made her jump, forgetting her sister was at the computers back at STAR, but she tried to keep her cool as she glanced to Maxima.

"Sorry, you're not my type," Kara replied a little coolly, not sounding apologetic for a problem that wasn't her own – she'd literally just had her first date with Barry; she didn't need this woman, this alien, come and mess things up.

"Unacceptable!" Maxima lunged. Kara only just managed to fly backward as she let out a blast of her laser vision on the woman, which didn't even seem to singe her, let alone hurt her.

"My mentor Alex is quite good when it comes to –" Kara tried as Maxima began to circle her, Kara noticed Barry had stopped circling too, and realised he stood on a roof closest to them now, ready to strike when they got closer; Kara began to drift toward him, forcing Maxima to move with her. "She's quite badass when it comes to fighting, Alex that is, I'm sure she would make a worthy mate for you."

"I do not need some weak Earthling – they break too easily. I require someone strong, someone who could aide in the protection of my home and the widening of my own desires." Maxima didn't seem fazed by what she was saying, but Kara found herself blushing once more for the alien woman.

"A little too much information for me, Maxi," she tried, glancing quickly to where Barry was and just in time as he jumped. Kara had to fly backward quickly as Barry found himself grappling with the alien woman some hundred or so feet above a nasty fall to death, but Kara kept close as she watched the Flash prove he was almost more than a match for Maxima – she even helped as she put forth a few punches before Barry lost his grip on the red-head and began to fall.

Kara swept down, grabbing Barry and moved back up to continue the fight with Maxima, only to find she'd vanished. With Barry in her arms she looked around, noting the cameras pointed up at them and no super-powered red-head in sight. "Lost her," she sighed. "That was… weird."

"Well, I hope she doesn't mind us borrowing this?" Kara looked to Barry holding what looked like a charm bracelet in his hand – the thing that had glinted in the light before theirs and Maxima's fight.

"Source of her powers, maybe?" Kara suggested hopefully.

"I think we should get this back to STAR," Barry countered, Kara agreeing as she didn't even bother to put Barry down on the ground, flying straight to the Labs.

-PowerFlash-

"Fascinating!"

"Will you stop saying that?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Allen, but this really is quite fascinating! It's technology from a whole other world!"

Stein had been waiting for them in the Cortex – Cisco was entertaining Julian in STAR's morgue and Joe had gone back to the department. Barry hadn't seen Caitlin or Ray all day. But now Stein was examining the bracelet Barry had claimed off of Maxima with great interest and couldn't help smiling as Harry looked over his shoulder. Kara stood by Jesse at the computers while Barry paced about nervously.

"You see these charms?" Stein indicated the few objects hanging from the chain. "They fit into part of a greater design when placed as such." He moved what looked like a ringed planet next to a crescent moon; instantly the two fused together, the bracelet glowing momentarily. "There's so much that can be learned from such a thing. If only you could have brought this Maxima woman in for questioning, she could provide the information to get this to work in our favour."

"Something tells me our meta-human holding cells wouldn't be enough," Harry pointed out right behind Stein. "You know we should really use Kara in a cell to figure out how to hold aliens." Kara gave her adoptive father a curious look at this. "No offense, but if more are going to show up we have to figure out how to hold them."

"Maybe after we stop Maxima" Jesse voiced, "who, if she were here anyway, would then be jumping Kara at every opportunity," Jesse found the situation hilarious despite the dangers Maxima presented.

"I can't believe this universe's Maxima showed up," Barry finally stated, remembering when he was on Earth-3, happily believing that there were no aliens on his Earth and so safe from that kind of threat. He had even thought about not wanting to face off against Maxima the other week, making a mental note there and then to be careful of what he thought in future. "Oh, she's held in the DEO of Earth-3" Barry added to Jesse and Harry's curious looks, Kara silently nodding with her own memories of Earth-3 thanks to the memory transplant that world's Kara had given her.

"So what do we do with her? She obviously won't leave without me by her side and I'm not looking to relocate any time soon," Kara finally stated, a little despondent. She wanted this woman gone; even going so far into half-way thinking of asking Cisco to open a portal to another Earth and throw her in, but that seemed too idiotic; Maxima would have others in this universe who would miss her, even if she was threatening this planet and Kara herself.

"And no need for a girlfriend when you already have a boy–" Jesse chimed in, but shut herself up at the glare Kara gave her. Barry was pretending not to hear this part of the conversation as he distracted himself watching Stein fiddle with the alien bracelet.

"Where did she go, though?" Kara directed this at Harry, who had taken over Caitlin's job of tracking foes while Caitlin was away.

"I lost track of her," Harry admitted, a little deflated as Kara sighed, Jesse however spoke up again.

"You don't need to look far." She had been spinning lazily on her chair but was now facing one of the television monitors; on it looked like a familiar scene to Barry – Central City Park, a handful of civilians (he noted 90% of them were female), and a white robed figured flying around them, keeping them in check. A super-villain hostage situation both Zoom and Livewire had attempted before.

"It's a trap," Harry immediately stated, moving toward the screen and grabbing Kara's shoulder to stop her from moving off.

"We get that, Admiral Ackbar," Jesse groaned, throwing in a Star Wars reference to her father's agitation. Barry had pulled his mask on already though and Kara's hadn't even left her face.

"Why is It always a park?" Barry mumbled, flashbacks to the other times this had happened flying through his mind.

"I gotta do this dad," Kara moaned, "even if I have no idea how to stop her."

"Maybe we could knock her unconscious?" Barry suggested, lighting flashing in his eyes, determined to stop her this time.

"Worth a shot," Kara shrugged, removing herself from Harry's grasp as the pair sped from the Lab; Harry running back to the computer desk to keep monitor on the pair while Jesse started monitoring their vitals and checking the cameras nearby to keep an eye on the powerful pair.

Barry and Kara arrived at the park in seconds: Kara flying down to the ground, and Barry speeding to a stop – already on the ground. The people being held hostage were pleased to see the two heroes, but Maxima had kept them in their place – she only stopping circling her pray when both the Flash and Supes came to a stop before her.

"Kryptonian, Speedster," she addressed the pair. "I need back my transponder."

"Transponder?" Barry asked. "That bracelet? What about my Kryptonian friend here?"

"I would like both." There was a wry smile on her face now as she looked over Kara.

"Why? Why me?" Kara persisted, noting helicopters coming near now and a few police cars pulling up – hopefully they could save these people before Maxima did too much damage.

"The Crucible Academy teaches only the best to protect their home worlds. We are taught to protect them with an honourable mate –" Maxima began.

"But you said you were dishonoured from that place" Kara quickly countered.

"I value their teachings nonetheless, and I still seek that mate; a champion in their own right. I have chosen you, Kryptonain to help protect Almerac, to be my mate. To live and die in the honour of the Academy!"

"I am a protector of this world though," Kara tried to reason, trying to make this Maxima see sense. She didn't seem that bad, but this obsession in wanting a mate to help protect her world seemed close-minded. "I help protect it with the Flash and others. We like it here and we have a good thing going…"

"Why do you choose to be so far from your home world though? Almerac is in a neighbouring yellow star system to Krypton; it would take no time to travel between the two; why do you choose to stay so far away from home?" There was passion in her eyes now, a plea for Kara to answer.

Kara didn't know how to answer though. She stared, open-mouthed at Maxima as she finally formed the words: "Krypton lives?" These words almost not getting through Kara's own head, shocking her.

"But of course. It never went," Maxima seemed confused at this, moving closer to Kara. Barry didn't know how to act, what to do, but was spared the wonderment when Stein spoke in his ear.

"Barry, I think I know how to stop Maxima without cause of a fight. Her bracelet; she mentioned it was a transponder – it seems to also be a teleporter. I have no idea how it can work, but we've copied as much as the technology as possible for future research and I hope that by putting it back on her it would force some sort of reboot, transporting her back to her home world or this Academy place she mentions. It's worth a shot." Barry nodded to himself, knowing Kara had heard this as he back-tracked back to STAR Labs.

But this was all the distraction Maxima needed as she leapt at Kara, the Kryptonian not having the reaction time she should have as the powerful other alien grabbed her shoulders and forced her head on to Kara's, their lips locking in a moment of shock for the Kryptonian, and relief for Maxima.

But Maxima pulled out after only a second, her green eyes meeting Kara's blue's as she looked in shock and despair. "There was no connection," she muttered, moving backward. She had been so sure Kara was the one but it seems she was wrong. "It's meant to be primal, to be perfect… but –" there was a burst of light and a clinking noise and the Flash stood beside the redhead, Maxima's bracelet back on her wrist. She looked momentarily at the thing, and then back to Kara and, with her eyes suddenly watering, she vanished in a beam of energy – transported far away from Earth.

"It worked!" Barry punched the air before looking back to Kara, who stood stocked still. "You kissed her?"

"She kissed me!" Kara protested a little weakly. "But there was no connection, she said. I didn't… Flash, that was my first kiss!" She hissed the last few words, unsure what she thought of this. She wanted Barry to be her first kiss in all honestly, not some alien woman, but maybe it was for the best if there was 'no connection' so Maxima wouldn't return to try again.

Barry couldn't help but smirk at this, his attention now turned to the people still congregating on the grass – apparently unaware they had been set free – and the police lingering on the street. "Come on. Time to help clear up" he avoided her gaze now as he moved off.

-PowerFlash-

"You kissed a girl!" Jesse almost sang to Kara, the Kryptonian and the Flash back at STAR Labs – another job well done – as Jesse couldn't help but repeat herself, obviously thrilled to have little sister to tease. Kara though didn't seem to hear her sister – she hadn't even taken off her costume, actually, just sitting on a chair, staring into space.

"Kara, what's wrong?' Barry asked. The group had been trying to get Kara's attention for several minutes, including Jesse's sing-song, but Barry's voice finally made Kara look to him.

"Krypton lives," Kara said, her only thoughts having been to her home world since Maxima's reveal. "It never blew up."

Barry sighed, putting a hand on Kara's knees as he bent down to look her in the eyes. "You had to know that was a possibility. Especially since there is no Superman or Supergirl on this world."

"It didn't really cross my mind," Kara said, lost in memories that were not here own. "The red sun, the yellow grass, the beautiful cities. They are all still there." Kara had a sudden longing for a home she had never stepped foot on, knowing that this longing came from the original Kara. From Supergirl. It had been passed over to her along with the memories. "My mom, dad, Uncle Jor, Aunt Astra, little Kal – they all live on Krypton. Myself, though…" The thought finally came to her. "The real Kara of this world is there, probably in her fifties now with a husband and children of her own, most likely. Maybe a judge like mom or a scientist like dad… or went into the army like Aunt Astra. Maybe even politics, who knows. With the connections of the house of El she could even be supreme ruler of Krypton."

"I'll put the bets on the army," Barry said with a small smile as Jesse let the two talk, moving back to Stein to continue an interrogation she had started on his arrival hours ago. "If she's anything like you, or her counterparts I met, she wants to help people" Barry concluded.

"My home is out there and I will never see. Even if I do though, I don't have a place there," Kara muttered.

"You have a place here with us. This is your home – you even said so," Barry reminder her, and Kara gave him a small smile, moving forward to suddenly hug the man, her grip still a little too tight as she felt a pain he didn't voice.

"Sorry," Kara mumbled. "Barry…?" he was about to turn around but looked back at Kara. "If Maxima found out about me, there's a chance Krypton could too, isn't there?" Barry nodded his head knowing it to be true, wondering where Kara was going with this. "You think they would come here to investigate? What do you think they would think of me? A clone of Kara Zor-El taken from DNA from another world's Kara Zor-El. What do they even think of clones?"

"I honestly don't know Kara," Barry said truthfully, a little defeated at this. "But we'll worry about that when the time comes. If the time comes."

-PowerFlash-

"Power Girl?" Iris had arrived in the office after lunch. She had watched Barry and Kara's battle with the alien woman first hand and soon found the hash tag 'PowerGirl' trending on Twitter, with – surprise, surprise – Cat Grant responsible for the first tweet regarding the girl in white. Iris would have been okay with the name had it not been for the 'girl' part of it. Kara was anything but a girl, in spite of being created just over a month or so ago as a clone. Now she found herself charging into Cat's makeshift office, her boss staring at several pieces of footage she'd collected of 'Power Girl' since her origins in Central with her longer hair.

"We can't name her that!" Iris now insisted the back of Cat's head.

"' _We'_  didn't, Miss East," Cat responded, turning in her chair now to look at Iris, her eyebrows raised and a curious expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," Iris found herself responding, but forced herself to go on. "A female superhero though, shouldn't she, at least, be called 'Power Woman'?"

"I'm sorry, Eileen, but I really can't hear you over the glare of your cheap bling" Cat sighed; glancing to the chain around Iris' neck and the large loop earrings she had selected that morning.

Iris ignored this though, wanting to put her point across as she risked leaning against Cat's desk. "If we call her 'Power Girl', something less than what she is, doesn't that make us guilty of being anti-feminist?" Cat blinked at this, surprised at Iris' words as she leaned back in her chair.

"I stuck a label on the side of this girl, before anyone else had settled on anything – I branded her, Eileen, if I want her to be Power Girl, then she will be Power Girl. Now she will be forever linked to Cat Grant and CatCo – to this very paper! Do you not understand the power of media? My power, simply sat behind this desk? What do you have against such a title anyway? I've put the word 'girl' right after 'power' – she's a powerful girl, you see?"

"It's not…" Iris tried as Cat stood up, Iris forcing herself to move back as she stuttered, "I meant…"

"I'm a girl," Cat said simply, pointing to herself, "and I'm your boss, and powerful, and rich, and smart, and – if I do say so myself – super hot. So if you perceive Power Girl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem… you?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Grant." Iris found herself saying, suddenly feeling dejected. The fire she had felt ever since Cat had branded Kara with such a title seemed to have doused upon. Ms. Grant had that effect.

"You better be, Eileen, because from this day forward, the Flash's female co-superhero is Power Girl, and there's nothing anyone can do about that." There was a wicked grin on Cat's face now as she sat back down. "In the meanwhile, don't you have an article about this Maxima to write about? Power Girl and Maxima shared a rather intimate kiss before the latter vanished – that's a story all of its own after all."

"I'll… Right, yeah. I'll get right on it," Iris mumbled, turning on her heel now and moving back to her desk, her mind suddenly very empty as the buzzing of Cat's words filled her ears.

"Oh and Eileen," Iris looked over to Cat, "Don't ever try to one-up me again or you'll find yourself demoted quicker than you can say 'Power  _Woman_ ', okay?" she half-teased, half-threatened.


	7. The Third Speedster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally West finally accesses his speedster powers.

He was running; always running. Or was he chasing? A black figure was ahead of him but he had to pass it, to outrun it, to get the one beyond, to save his friend, his brother. And yet he remained in third, forever trying to outmaneuver a creature that wouldn't give up, that he just couldn't get passed. And the Flash would forever be running...

Wally woke with a start; sweat dripping from his forehead, his breath restricted – like he'd actually been running than just dreaming so. He sat up and blearily looked at his bedside clock, moaning silently at the 4am glowing indignantly at him. He felt he should be used to it by now, his nights had been drastically similar the past two weeks, as though he couldn't get this dream out of his mind.

Leaning forward to cup his head in his hands he recalled the dream vividly: He had been running at impossible speeds, going goodness knows where, desperately trying to overtake... something so he could reach Barry. Yes, that was definitely Barry in his Flash costume in the lead. But why? Why the same dream, night after night with no avail?

He flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating life – more specifically, his life. So much had changed in a year. He had found his biological sister and father, lost his mother, relocated to Central City, almost died – more than once – and had been kidnapped. He had reformed from his drag-racing obsession though, his need for speed, and met a girl he kind of liked. At least he had that.

He thought now to that girl, to Jesse and how she made him smile, how her quirky and sometimes erratic ways brought out the best in her, forcing him to up his game... But he also thought to that time their fathers had locked them in that secret room in STAR Labs and, when they'd escaped, being hit by that strange wave of energy; Jesse had been more affected by it than he, but on the long-term he had to wonder… Iris had kept him informed on goings on at STAR Labs too, how Jesse was now a speedster like Barry due to that instance. Shouldn't Wally, himself, be the same? They had both been hit equally by that stuff. Then again he hadn't been in a coma. Maybe that was the difference. Maybe he was just not meant for the speed?

Sleep claimed him again as he thought, and while he dreamed once more of the chase, he wouldn't remember it come light; his brain was too clogged with random thoughts to contemplate odd reoccurring dreams.

It was 8am when Wally woke again. It was a Saturday morning and, while he could warrant from a sleep in, knew that wouldn't be the case. So, after washing and dressing he found himself downstairs expecting to be alone but honestly not thinking the house to still be full – his father and sister sat at the dining room table, toying with bowls of cereal, while Barry and that Kara girl occupied themselves watching morning cartoons. Kara seemed most entertained by the talking dog and his gang of misfit teens, it seemed. Almost like a child would be, really.

"Morning Wally," Joe addressed his son as Wally poured himself a bowl of cereal and took a seat at the table.

"Mornin'," Wally yawned back.

"Get much sleep?" Joe tried a conversation, Wally just giving him a 'so-so' hand gesture as Iris pushed her bowl in front of herself and leaned back.

"Did I hear you up before the sun?" She now asked Wally.

"Bad dreams," Wally replied dismissively as he tucked into the breakfast cereal, glad of an excuse not to talk. He did notice his dad and Iris glancing to one another in concern, but neither seemed to say anything as Iris sighed.

"Oh well, I've got to head out to work," she picked up her bowl as both Wally and Joe glanced to her in concern now.

"But it's Saturday," Wally pointed out, a little idiotically.

"And the media doesn't take weekends off – or at least that's what Ms. Grant told me last night. Don't worry, I'll only be there for the morning, then I'm meeting Julian for that lunch we had to cut sort due to Maxima…"

"You're having lunch with Julian Dorn?" Barry now asked, glancing over to her from the couch as Kara turned down the volume of the television.

"Yeah. He asked me out the other day, I said yes." A look passed between the pair as both knew instantly what this meant: Barry had pushed off Iris' advances a few weeks ago, and now he seemed to be in some kind of relationship with Kara; Iris didn't want to be hung up on anyone, and Julian was an attractive and smart man. As the two looked at each other they both gave a small nod, knowing that any relationship they had once both thought they'd was never happening. Both okay with it too, knowing they were not meant to be. There were other people for them. Kara and Julian, maybe.

"Have fun," Barry finally said with a genuine smile before turning his attention back to the cartoon and Kara.

Now it was Wally and Joe's turn to share a look, both knowing the bumpy history of Iris and Barry – Wally had been caught up on Barry's feelings for Iris some time ago – and so wondering what this meant for the potential couple, but Iris interrupted the glance with a mutter of "It's fine" to her father as she squeezed his shoulder, claimed her handbag and walked from the door.

As the door closed, Joe moved over to the couch and sat on the arm, looking at Barry in that way only Joe could.

"What, Joe?" Barry asked, glancing to his adoptive father.

"You and Iris… will they, wont they…" Joe stated loftily. "Look, I don't want to get into the affairs of my kids, but I don't like to be kept out of the loop, either."

"Nothing's happening between me and Iris," Barry stated truthfully. "I'm happy for her, honestly. Julian's nice. If she ends up with him that's great and if not, I'll support her for the next person."

"Okay then," Joe didn't want to pry too far into it, not wanting to get too 'protective father' over any of his kids, so stood again. "I'm heading out. Got an appointment soon so free reign of the house for you lot. Don't get it in too much of a state…"

"It's okay, Kara and I will be heading to STAR shortly anyway; Cisco's got something important he wants to show us so we're just waiting for his call," Barry informed him.

"Well, whatever. Have fun you two…" Joe moved off to the stairs, to get himself prepared for whatever it was he was going to head out for.

Meanwhile, Wally's ears had perked up and his breakfast had been eaten. He glanced to the pair still watching cartoons and had to ask: "Hey Barry. Mind if tag along? I haven't seen Caitlin and Cisco in a while and they're pretty cool people so…" he left the sentence hanging for a moment as Barry simply gave him a thumbs up from the couch, Wally grinning to himself as he muttered a simple "cool" and tried not to think of Jessica Wells.

-PowerFlash-

They had received Cisco's call only a few minutes after Joe had finally walked out the door and, with Wally in tow, had still nevertheless made it STAR in their usual record timing. Waiting for them were Jesse, Caitlin, Ray and Cisco, along with two female mannequins with two super-suits. Barry and Kara recognized Kara's one instantly, and Kara alone recognized Jesse's too – having been given a glance of it a few weeks back before gaining her Earth-3 memories. She had also seen it intermittently when grabbing her super-suit from time to time.

"I officially dub her: Quick." Cisco was saying with a small smirk as he introduced the three newcomers to Jesse's suit first. It took inspiration from both the Flash and the Reverse-Flash's outfit, having a yellow upper bodice slowly changing to Red-Flash legs. It left little room for the imagination, but as a speedster, there needed to be very little between their body and the friction of the air so as not to drag its user against wind resistance. The boots were red to match the legs and the eye-mask was yellow to match the bodice; Cisco seemed to have also added yellow fingerless gloves and Barry's Flash symbol just right, off-center of the chest.

"You ready to be a speedster then?" Barry asked Jesse who was looking anywhere but at her super-suit – although her focus did keep falling on Wally more than anyone or anything else.

"Not really," Cisco interjected. "But I thought enough was enough and I'd let you all have first looks at her outfit."

"And the reasoning behind the name?" This time Jesse was the one to speak, glancing to Cisco now.

"I'm starting to like it. While it's not 'Jesse Quick' as your dad dubs you, it does relate to what you are, to how you are perceived: Quick. Plus, I want to get in there with the naming before Cat Grant pulls another Power Girl on us."

"You'll get used to it." Barry smiled at his friend with a laugh. "When I was on Earth-3 she dubbed me 'The Blur' faster than you could even say 'Flash'." Jesse smirked to this while Cisco scoffed.

"If I remember correctly, she said something about the Flash sounding like someone who's 'only superpower is jumping out of alleys in trench coats'," Kara quoted, Barry's mentioning of the event causing Kara Danver's memories to flare up in her mind. Jesse actually laughed at that.

"That's a little creepy," Barry said, still not use to Kara having the other Kara's memories.

"But that's not all," Cisco interrupted, moving the discussion along, and put on his best showman's attitude as he drew everyone's attention on to Kara's familiar suit. There was a noticeable addition to what was already there…

"The House of El," Kara breathed, moving up to her mannequin to look at the small 'S' symbol encased within a diamond-like shape. Unlike the symbol on her Earth-3 counterpart's costume, this didn't take pride of place over the chest, instead residing over her heart and about the same size as a heart. It wouldn't be noticeable in great distances, but the fact that it was there pleased Kara.

"Same colour as cape to match," Cisco stated. "It's all about the colour scheme and practicality too. A bigger symbol might weigh on the outfit, and while that may not be a problem for you Kara, it may restrict movement –" Cisco didn't predict the hug that came out of nowhere as Kara wrapped the costume's expect in a rather tight hug.

"It's perfect Cisco, thank you." Kara muttered as she forced herself to unwrap from the tech-whizz. He looked a little ruffled as he smirked to Kara.

"Well, Winn of Earth-3 gave me a necklace of the symbol. It needed to be part of your superhero look eventually – no other way around it. Would seem a bit weird to not be 'Super-something' though with the 'S' but it's not like we call the Flash 'Lightning' or something…" he rambled on, indication of Barry's superhero persona and the symbol that had long-since established itself in relation to the Flash.

"It's technically not an 'S'," Kara said. "It means 'stronger together' – a symbol of my house and family."

"You know, I'd love to learn more about Krypton," Cisco stated wistfully, "Maybe later we can run the holographic program of your mother…?"

All the while this was going on Wally couldn't help but smirk to himself. He felt oddly at home surrounded by these oddballs, but while Jesse seemed resistant to take on a superhero mantle, an idea did occur to the West boy. As conversation encased most of the people gathered – Caitlin, Ray and Barry talking animatedly to each other and Cisco now explaining something about an addition he'd yet to use for Kara's super suit, Wally made his move over to Jesse.

"It's not that bad," he told her, of her suit. "Why so resistant?"

"Because I didn't ask for this," she stated simply, "none of it. I never wanted dad to risk Central City and make metas, I never wanted to be kidnapped and forced to live on this Earth in protection and I certainly didn't ask to be chosen by the speed force to be another speedster. All I want is to live a normal life with my friends."

"But surely these are your friends too?" Wally pointed out, indicating those around them.

"Not really. More my father's friends than mine really. Much as I do like everyone here, including yourself," she couldn't help but smile at Wally, "they will never be those I can never again see on my Earth."

"Hey, never say never, Miss Wells" Wally pointed out. "From what I've heard, until you've accepted yourself as a speedster, you're stuck here. But by embracing all that… you can go home." There was a slight sadness to his voice at this. This wasn't the conversation he wanted to have with Jesse, in fact he wanted a completely different conversation with her, but it was happening.

"Easy for you to say. You weren't affected by that stuff!" Jesse snapped back.

"Hey, lay off," Wally pointed out. "I'd love to be a speedster like Barry. All my life…" he stopped himself before he too went off on a rant, but instead changed tact. "Look, you're stuck here until you think differently. How's about we use that time to our advantage? Tonight my buddy's singing at the youth bar at my college – come with me. Have a drink, sing a few songs, have a little fun."

"Are you asking me out, Mr. West?" Jesse suddenly asked with a genuine smile.

"Might be" Wally replied coyly.

"What time?"

-PowerFlash-

"How do you know this 'Scott Wynn' person?" Jesse asked Wally as they entered the bar. It was an okay place, not the sort of place she was used to on Earth-2, but reminded her of the bar Barry and Iris had taken her too that time when she'd discovered the bad things her dad had done in her name, and when that friend of Caitlin's, Trajectory, had tried to harness the speed force for herself.

"I heard him sing one night, and thought I'd introduce myself. I don't have that many friends around here and Winn's a cool guy," Wally said as they moved over to the bar.

"I thought he was Scott? Unless you call him by his last name," Jesse speculated, knowing some people did go by their last name.

"No, Scott Wynn's his stage name – his real name is Winn Schott Junior, but he doesn't want to be associated to his asshole dad so goes by a stage name when on tour." At this, Wally ordered two of his usual beverages and passed one mug over to Jesse, who took a sip.

"Not bad, a bit too fruity, but it's alright," she muttered as Wally now led her to a table near the front. As he put his mug on the table and moved the chair back for Jesse in a show of compassion, he momentarily thought he saw Barry and Kara back by the bar, but shook of off when a man called out an introduction to his friend to take the stage.

It was nineties night apparently and Winn was opening – there were a few other artists coming up and covering songs, but Winn was apparently opening and closing the gig so Wally knew he could get access to his friend after. He happily cheered on the man who took to the stage, Wally glancing to Jesse who now was watching Winn like everyone else, as the man introduced himself by his stage name and a few back-up singers the bar used regularly took position behind him.

After a moment of settling down, Winn informed the room he'd be singing Céline Dion's 'It's All Coming Back to Me' and, though many had their doubts he could pull off the song, the moment the music started and the moment he began to sing, all his doubters were quickly silenced. He subtly played with the crowd as he sung, pulled them in on his every word and deafened the rest at his powerful vocals – at the bar, two individuals were in shock at how brilliantly he sung and how he made the song his own that, by the end, even they were whooping at his brilliant work.

The rest of the night went well; Jesse and Wally drank and listened to the songs, enjoying the night and each other's company, although it seemed the alcohol didn't go to either of their heads – Jesse for obvious reason but not so much for Wally. He didn't care though as, by the night's end, with generic music blasting over the speaker and Winn coming to their table, he was adamant to introduce Jesse to his musical friend.

Winn also had a surprise for Wally it seemed, as a mixed race man of around Wally's age came up to Winn who clapped him on the back. "Wally, my man, Jesse… may I introduce my brother Jim?" he called above the music as he and Jim took spare seats at the little table.

"I didn't know you had a brother!" Wally exclaimed as Winn grinned.

"Half-brother on my mum's side. She's still married to his dad, my step-dad although he's a better dad than mine," Winn explained as Jim shook hands with Jesse.

"It's cool," Wally, stated, "I have a foster brother who is completely part of the family, so I know what it's like." He smiled at Jim while he and Winn began to talk. It wasn't long before Wally needed the bathroom and Winn was called away by some of the bar crew, leaving Jim and Jesse alone; although on his way to men's room Wally definitely saw Barry and Kara at the bar and couldn't help but glare at both of them, wondering what they were doing at the place when neither could get drunk and both could be needed to do their hero stuff in the city.

"Wow he did not look happy to see us," Kara stated from the bar to Barry. "Perhaps we should have asked to follow him and Jesse here instead of being covert?"

"Not a good idea." Barry shook his head. "I didn't want him to know we were here in the first place."

"True," Kara admitted before asking, "Why did you want to follow him and Jesse anyway?"

"Just intuition," Barry muttered, "can you hear what Winn's brother is saying?" She had let him in on Winn's reveal earlier, having easily been able to hear the men over the music with her super hearing.

"I think… I think he's flirting with her. Wally won't like that." She stated, a little unsure. "Isn't Jesse meant to be his date?"

"Well, we'll soon find out. He's coming out of the bathroom now," Barry indicated Wally returning to the table.

Both watched as Wally made it back and sat down. Barry saw Jesse say something, Jim say something else and then suddenly Wally was on him, punches flying at irregular and superior speeds that a normal human shouldn't have been capable of. Barry and Kara didn't waste time in jumping to action themselves, pushing quickly through the crowds to pull Wally off Winn's brother who now lay unconscious on the floor. Jesse seemed in shock as the music was suddenly cut out at the spectacle made. Someone shouted and Kara could hear one of the barmen calling for an ambulance.

"I'll stay with Jim," Kara said quickly, "assess the damage. You get him out of here. Jesse, go with them." She insisted to her sister suddenly, the change of events not quite registering with the female speedster as Wally now seemed in shock at the damage he'd inflicted on the boy, but did react to the instructions going on around him, willingly and quickly leaving with Jesse and Barry as Winn came to his brother's side.

"What happened?" He called as a barman said that ambulance was incoming. "Who are you?"

"It was an accident, Winn." Kara stated, not thinking that she hadn't been introduced to this version of her parallel friend before, who shook his head surprisingly at her. "Your brother was flirting with Jesse and he kind of… he lost it. I'm sorry. I think he has at least three fractured ribs and internal bleeding." Kara stated, having used her x-ray vision quickly.

"Damnit…" Winn sighed, putting a hand on his half-brother's forehead, just as a siren announced the arrival of the medical team.

-PowerFlash-

"Superhuman speeds?" Caitlin asked with intrigued as Barry recalled all that had happened at the bar, well most of it. Wally was now sitting on the bed, wired up to several machines as she took readings while Cisco had vanished at the mention of the possibility that Wally could be a speedster.

"I didn't…" Wally stated a little quietly. He'd been in shock since he'd been pulled off Jim and now Jesse was by his side, holding his hand as she looked to him in concern. She hadn't said anything since they'd arrived.

"Winn or his brother could place charges against him," Caitlin told Barry in a low whisper. She and Barry were in the Cortex, looking over some of the readings they'd collected of Wally so far.

"Joe will help get him off. Just as long as he didn't do too much damage to Jim." Barry sighed, glancing to the doorway. "She should be back by now," he added distractedly.

"Kara probably just wants to make sure Jim's okay and that Winn doesn't get too mad," Caitlin stated distractively as she read over something else on the monitor.

"True. Damn, Winn could sing though, I never knew that…" Barry muttered, keeping behind Caitlin now as he looked in at Wally with concern too.

"Different Winn," Caitlin muttered distractedly. "Maybe the one on Earth-3 couldn't sing but this one could. Should get Cisco to see if he can vibe that, he's getting better at it after all… Oh."

"Oh?" Barry moved in. "Why 'oh'?"

Caitlin, however, moved off and back to Wally and Jesse in the medical bay. Jesse looked up while Wally kept a glance in the distance. "Wally?" Caitlin asked a little hesitantly.

"What is it, Cait?" Jesse asked as she looked to her friend. "Is he a speedster like me and Barry?"

"Well…" Caitlin didn't feel comfortable telling Jesse and not Wally, but Wally was in the room and, shocked or not, he would be able to process what she way saying. "Yes" Caitlin sighed. "It seemed like he was affected by the speed force in exactly the same way you were, in fact your readings there are identical…" at this Wally motioned to look up at the bioengineer.

"Why… why wasn't I in a coma like Jess or Barry?" he asked, his voice raspy now.

"I honestly don't know. I think your metabolism coped with the change more easily than Barry's or Jesse's, but that's only a hypothesis – until I talk to doctors Wells or Stein I can't know for sure…" Caitlin stated sympathetically.

"But that won't stop us from moving ahead on a different front." Cisco had entered the Cortex again, his voice carrying into the med bay as he seemed to be pulling something behind him. Before he could precede much further though, Kara appeared behind him, looking a little haggard.

"Jim?" Barry asked quickly as Cisco raised his hands in annoyance, his interruption interrupted it seemed.

"Some broken ribs, internal bleeding and a lot of bruising. He'll pull through though, but Barry, get this – his full name is James Olsen!" Kara announced.

"What? But he and Winn…?" Barry tried, neither men having announced their relation while he'd been on Earth-3.

"Different Olsen I guess. I know the pair on Earth-3 are not brothers and Jim doesn't look like James, at all," Kara stated, "but I think he's the closest to the same person we're going to get, not that I want to have a James Olsen here. Besides, he goes by Jim instead on this Earth. Winn's a bit distraught but I explained that Wally and Jesse were a thing and he knew Wally has a bit of a temper on him so hopefully they'll still be cool, but I don't know for sure…"

"Is anyone going to ask me what I have?" Cisco said, although mentally noting to ask more about this Earth's Winn once the hype had died down.

"It's another speedster outfit on a mannequin on a trolley," Kara stated dismissively.

"Another outfit?" Barry asked as Cisco rolled his eyes at Kara and tugged at the thing he was pulling – indeed it was a trolley holding a mannequin in a rather silver-y outfit.

Wally was in the Cortex before anyone could comment, as he looked the suit up and down and asked Cisco, "Mine?"

"A prototype for you. Harry said you were a speedster before we knew for sure so I knocked this up. I don't have your measurements on spec so I estimated but I can modify it to your right physique. Do you like it?"

Even Jesse couldn't help but whistle at the sleek design: It was similar, although more manly, to Jesse's – a two-tone mix of silver running into black, with silver gloves and black boots. The mask was more like Barry's although missing the cranium, covering around the head but not the top and was also in a similar silver texture to the top of the outfit. It supported the same lightning symbol that Jesse's and Barry's suit had, but in the same center chest-position of Barry's.

"That is so cool!" Wally couldn't help but admit. "I never thought… I mean, I'm actually a speedster?"

"Jim Olsen would confirm that," Kara stated a little somberly.

"I didn't mean to do that," Wally stated, suddenly deflated, "I mean yeah, I wanted to beat the guy up for making a move on Jess, but I didn't mean… you said he was to be okay, right?"

"After some surgery and a few weeks in hospital he'll be up and about, yeah." Kara stated.

"I'll beg for Winn's forgiveness and try to explain things –" Wally immediately stated.

"He's fine. He knew Jim was trying to make a move on Jesse," Kara could see her sister blushing behind Wally now, "but the severe damage… even I couldn't explain that away."

"Maybe we shouldn't," Barry announced, Kara and Wally looking to him confused. "If he's anything like the Winn from the other Earth, he'd be cool with superheroes and the like…"

"Introduce yet another one to Team Flash though?" Caitlin asked. "We already have us lot, Harry, Stein, Jax and Ray, add to that the gang from Star City and any of Ray or Firestorm's time-travelling buddies…"

"Oh, Winn is cool though. He'd be a great friend and asset," Cisco tried.

"The Winn you knew from Earth-3!" Caitlin corrected him. "We know nothing of this Winn apart from the fact he's a good singer."

"No… he would be good to the team actually," Wally vocalized. "Singing is his passion, but he's a tech wiz like Cisco. He worked as a technician for one of those big companies for a few years before he got bored and started the singing thing. He'd be awesome here, I'm sure!"

"Not just saying that because you want a friend on your side are you?" Caitlin warned Wally.

"No… I also want to show off my new speedster outfit," Wally smirked to Cisco as Caitlin sighed to herself, moving off so as not to argue her point with Iris' brother. Wally watched her a little worriedly for a moment before he glanced back at the suit. "So, what's the name you've come up with for me?"

"That one's obvious" Barry stated suddenly. "Look at the colour scheme. You're called Silver, am I right, Cisco?"

"Yep!" Cisco smirked. "I was thinking 'Kid Flash' but who wants to be called a kid when they're in their twenties? No, I think 'Silver' works better. It indicates speed as well as the colour of the outfit. Unless you or Cat Grant can come up with something better, I think it will be great." He and Wally shared a grin as Barry couldn't help but chuckle at Vibe's enthusiasm.

"Some first date" Jesse muttered behind Wally, who span to face her.

"Next time I'll try and not beat anyone up. If you want a next time, that is?" the others quickly distracted themselves with Wally's new suit, while Wally waited for Jesse's response.

"Yeah," she gave him a sly wink, smirked quickly to Kara before adding. "There's got to be a next time, Mr. West."


	8. Rogue Potential

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Malcolm Merlyn returns, recruiting meta-humans into his own Rogues Gallery.

The man appeared as if out of nowhere from the shadows, observing the woman sleeping in the cell. Cocking his head in momentary thought, he pressed the intercom button which buzzed loudly, waking the sleeping woman who groaned aloud and looked to the man. She sat up, eyes wide before she too cocked her head to the side.

"Good morning, Miss Nance…"

"W-who are you?" the Black Siren asked as she rubbed her eyes and stretched, "And what do you want? Does Barry know you're here?"

"Mr. Allen hasn't a clue. In fact, no-one knows I'm here – it's one of my skills; being the dead of night has its advantages too, Donna."

"So what exactly are you doing here?" Siren yawned.

"I want to recruit you" the man said simply.

"Recruit me? Recruit me for what? I'm not exactly army material."

"It's not exactly the army I want you to join. Tell me, Donna, ever since your unruly team up with 'Team Flash' have you actually seen a change in your living conditions? Have you been utilised beyond a scream on a stick? Because I can help. You need me."

Donna moved toward the front of her cell, listening intently. "I get daily bathroom breaks now, one shower a week, but no, there's not been a change… I haven't been let out since I apparently helped stop Duplicate, and Allen doesn't want anything more to do with me. What are you offering?"

"Equality, freedom… anything you want," the man responded.

"Your name first, then I'll think to your offer," Donna stated, now on her feet, inches from the glass and looking to the man, trying to decipher who he was, what he could be.

"Merlyn."

"Like the wizard?" They even had the legends of the wizard, Merlin, on Earth-2.

"If you like," Malcolm Merlyn stated, a small smirk on his face. "So, what about it?"

"I've only just started building the trust of those idiots, but only just. I can't afford to wait forever for them to realise they need the Siren again. But I also have this stupid collar on which isn't pleasant at the best of times." She indicated the Siren Call device on her neck, so close to the Canary Cry collar Cisco had designed for Laurel, but so far from it too.

"Easy fixes," Malcolm shrugged. "So, care to join me?"

-PowerFlash-

"Siren's escaped?" Barry and Kara had been called into the Cortex as early as possible by Cisco to be delivered the news. Caitlin was worried, Cisco furious and Ray just slightly amused by it all.

"Along with Anti-Flash and Tokamak," Cisco sighed irritably, he was sitting at the desk, running his hands through his hair in irritation, Caitlin was beside him and now Barry moved behind him.

"Sorry, who's Tokamak?" Barry asked, a little confused. He thought he knew all the metas they had in lock up.

"Henry Hewitt, the scientist who could have been one half of Firestorm," Caitlin chimed in.

"We had Henry Hewitt in lock up?" Barry asked. "I thought we released him on a vow of silence?"

"Did you really think he'd remain silent for long?" Cisco pointed out in frustration, "But that's beside the point; we had a break out and a violation on our systems. This is bad – like majorly bad."

"But wait, I get Siren can be dangerous, Anti-Flash is a nuisance, but Hewitt…? Firestorm is nice, so shouldn't he be?" Kara asked tentatively, trying not let the others' worry overwhelm her. "How come he still has powers if he's not part of Firestorm anyway?"

"I guess his meta-human gene needed activating by Stein?" Cisco shrugged.

"He gained a Firestorm-like power though, able to fire intensive energy blasts from his body with extreme damage to others," Caitlin informed Kara now, Barry looking to her in thought.

"Thus Tokamak, like the plasma experiments in Russia," Ray countered, with a nod to Cisco.

"He's also a super genius, of your father's level," Barry muttered to Kara, running a hand over the nape of his neck in worry. "How did they get out anyway, and when?" He wanted to keep the conversation on track. This needed to be cleared up and dealt with.

"Early hours of the morning while Harry and Jesse were asleep – surveillance footage went down for twenty minutes and when it came back their cells were empty," Cisco replied in annoyance.

"Wait, if Jesse and Harry were here, where was Kara...?" Ray asked, looking to Kara who avoided his eyes as Ray realised, seeing her glance coyly to Barry. "Oh, right…"

"Why those three though?" Barry quickly took over before conversation deteriorated beyond salvation.

"Not a clue," Cisco informed them. "One is basically Barry, one can scream loud enough to bring down buildings and the other can burn things… seems like a strange combination, but if we can find out who released them..."

"Wait, could they be working on Duplicate's order?" Kara asked, suddenly concerned about her creator. "I may have broken free of her signal, but Anti wasn't going to any time soon."

"Impossible," Cisco countered, "when we got Anti-Flash locked up I was able to put a dampening field on his cell. When we gained Duplicate, and after Siren initially knocked out her signal, I was able to put a similar dampening field upon hers. The only thing she can control now is herself and that alone seems to cause her trouble – she didn't get out last night." There was a small smile on his face at this, despite the situation. Duplicate had caused them enough trouble and Cisco was happy he had control of her.

"Sounds like you guys have problems."

They all looked up to see Sara Lance standing in the doorway of the Cortex, grinning at the group in spite of the situation and, next to her, was someone all too familiar, someone supposed to be dead.

"Laurel?" Ray quickly moved toward her as he stared to the woman in shock.

"Not Laurel," Sara quickly moved over the threshold, dragging the Laurel lookalike with her as Barry and Cisco now exchanged glances – of all the people let in on Laurel's clone's existence beyond Joe and Quentin Lance, they had known. It wasn't too difficult, Barry working in the CCPD where the clone-maker had been kept, and Cisco for keeping regular eyes on those in containment, thanks to his deal with the police department. The others were in a need-to-know basis, and they didn't need to know… until now it seemed.

"Dinah," the clone girl stated with a small smile, holding out her hand for Ray to shake. "Dinah Lance, Laurel's… twin?" With some of the associated memories of Laurel in her head, she didn't quite like to claim to be the same person, but she felt close enough to the former Canary to take, and embrace, her actual given first name. And of course call her deceased original template her twin – it was easier that way and Felicity had already falsified records to back this claim.

"Twin huh?" Kara smirked. "I think we have more in common than you think" She gave Dinah a wink, instantly knowing what was going on here – by being a clone, in a way Dinah was Laurel's twin; the same way Kara herself was original Kara's twin.

"What are you doing here?" Cisco asked, ever the fan of the Canaries, whether that was the White or Black variant.

"Visiting mom," Dinah stated. "Sara and dad thought it best to deal with my existence face-to-face and since she lives in Central, we thought we'd drop in on you guys." She smiled at Kara, knowing Kara was right. Sara had explained Kara to her in the best way she knew, so Dinah knew they shared extremely similar starts in life.

"How did Dinah Senior take it?" Cisco had gotten side-tracked.

"After my coming back from the dead twice, nothing seems to sway her anymore, so surprisingly easily," Sara shrugged, adding quickly: "So what's the story here? Some people have escaped from lock up?"

"Yeah. Dangerous people," Cisco now turned his attention back to the task at hand. "Barry's clone, a fire-producing meta and Laurel's Earth-2 duplicate."

"Laurel's a meta-human on Harry's Earth?" Sara asked, not having been let in on this information before.

"Yep. Also, she goes by Donna Nance and isn't anything like Laurel or even Dinah here. They only share a face, nothing else," Barry thought he'd better get this out of the way quickly, knowing what it was like to get caught up in parallel lives. If Sara tried to see any similarities in Siren, more than hell could be broken loose when Siren inevitably disappointed Sara, much like when he'd been caught up in his double's life on Earth-2. "Hang on, didn't you put that collar on her? The Siren Call that she called a leash?" Barry suddenly asked Cisco, remembering this fact.

"You mean this?" Cisco pulled out the Siren Call from the desk draw. It was broken in half. "It seems Anti's been practicing with his powers while confined…"

"You guys should really think up a better system than locking metas up, you know," Kara stated sadly.

"I think we're about to get that," Caitlin suddenly spok up, looking at the street camera surveillance around the facility to see several SUVs were pulling up, the lead of which two familiar figures were already exiting.

"Alex and Lyla!" Kara couldn't help but grin as she watched her closest friend and their boss taking the lead, heading into the facility without a how-do-you-do.

"What happened to your top-of-the-range security?" Barry asked Cisco hesitantly.

"Three breakouts and people walking in without a care?" Cisco stated, "I don't think we have security any more. Something should be done about that."

"And drastically," Lyla had made it to the Cortex already, Alex behind her as well as four ARGUS soldiers; there were more troops, but they had been ordered to remain with the cars until further notice.

"Lyla, Alex," Cisco nodded to the pair, Caitlin and Sara smiling at them – especially since Alex was an old friend of Caitlin's – while the others ignored them. Except for Kara who lunged at her friend without a second glance and had Alex in a tight embrace. Alex grinned into the hug, having likened Kara to a sister in their time together.

"Mr. Ramone, Allen, we are aware of the breakout and you won't like what we have to say about it." Lyla stated, looking remorseful as Barry stood to attention, waiting, and Cisco leaned back in his chair. "Malcolm Merlyn," Lyla stated simply. "He was seen entering Central City within minutes of the breakout and has not been detected since."

"Merlyn?!" Sara asked, no longer smiling at her friend's wife. "Bored of Star City now? Why does he want metas? What does he want?"

"We don't know everything Sara, but we suspect he's using metas to form a new League of Assassins. He has contacts still from the League – ever since Nyssa disbanded it, technically it's been easy for the taking, and who better to take it back than the Magician himself?"

"Bloody man" Sara scowled, her fists shaking in range as she suddenly directed her anger at the desk, punching it in fury; Dinah moved to her sister to see if she'd damaged herself, but Sara waved her off. "Why was Nyssa so foolish? Did she not see this coming? Merlyn had League members on his side up until the end; just because she melted the Ring it doesn't mean loyalties wouldn't be turned elsewhere! There was more than just her who needed to find new life, not that she did really…"

"The League of Assassin?" Kara spoke up next to Alex now, looking to Sara and Lyla in confusion.

"An ancient order of ninjas able to control the world in the shadows through the use of stealth and manipulation," Lyla responded quickly. "It was disbanded by the Demon's Daughter a few months ago but such an organisation never truly dies. History repeats itself after all."

"Oh," Kara muttered. "And what are we going to do about it?"

Lyla turned now to look at her, slightly confused. "Do?"

"Well, are we to stop this Merlyn from re-forming it with Siren and company or what?"

"That's partially why we're here, Kara." Alex muttered to Kara. "Since you're here all the time now, Lyla wanted to see if we could set up a little extension of ARGUS's meta-human department here, and through this we can sure up the holding facility of metas so they either never break out again or can be reformed back to helpful members of the community."

"Seems reasonable," Kara stated, glancing to Barry for his approval. He did own STAR labs after all.

"I think one thing at a time," Barry stated hesitantly. "Lyla, Alex, do you know where Merlyn, Siren, Anti and Hewitt are now?"

"We haven't got a clue. Merlyn works in the shadows – it's easy to believe he took the other three with him; they've all gone rogue."

"Rogue?" Cisco asked suddenly, his eyes lighting up, Barry knowing where this was going: "Like a Rogue Gallery?"

"Rogue Gallery?" Alex and Kara asked together.

"They're what I call the bad guys, well a group of bad guys," Cisco quickly explained. "Originally it was just Captain Cold and Heatwave, but then it expanded when some of our metas escaped the pipeline when we were trying to move them – long story. Point is, if we have a new Rogue Gallery to stop, we have plenty of reinforcement: Flash, Power Girl, Silver, Quick, Atom and Firestorm. Our own little… Justice Gallery? No, that's not right. I'll come up with something though."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Cisco, but we don't have Firestorm," Ray pointed out. "Stein took Jax to Pittsburgh again to train – said they'd been away for too long and needed brushing up. Personally I think they're solid, but…" he let his voice trail off before adding: "You do have Atom and White Canary here, too."

"Regardless of who you have to help take on your Rogue Gallery idea," Lyla quickly spoke up, "we still don't know where Merlyn or the others are. We need eyes on the streets – I doubt they've travelled far. Or at least, I hope they haven't gone far anyway."

"That's easy," Kara suddenly spoke up, "Barry and I will scout out for them."

"Thought you would," Alex smirked now. "When did you get so forthright?"

"Since Cat Grant named me Power Girl, I think." Kara gave her mentor a little wink at this.

"Right, so Kara you take to the air, Barry you take to the streets – any sign of these rogues, you call it in and we'll go out as back up." Lyla stated, assuredly.

"Caitlin, get in contact with Jesse and Wally, tell them they're needed. First mission, no backing out." Barry stated to his colleague and friend, he and Kara suddenly vanishing in a moment to return in their outfits – Kara with the added blue-and-white House of El symbol now, displaying it proudly over her heart and about the same size as the organ too.

"We'll let you know of anything, keep you informed. This shouldn't take too long." Kara stated, glancing to the Flash now before they both sped out of the labs.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Lyla stated at the cold rush of air the two speedsters left in their wake.

"I don't think you ever will," Ray muttered; he too feeling the same way to both heroes' speeds.

-PowerFlash-

Jesse and Wally turned up about ten minutes later to a very silent Cortex.

Cisco and Caitlin had their positions on the computer banks, Ray and Sara were pacing, Dinah and Alex were in conversation while Lyla remained behind the two technicians on the computers, biting her fingernails in desperation.

"Wow, seems like a funeral in here," Jesse stated, trying to lighten the mood a little, as ever.

"We lost contact with both Flash and Power Girl a few minutes ago, we think it was their relay, but it could also be a sonic disruption," Lyla stated, looking to the new pair now before moving over to them. "Miss Wells and Mr. West, I assume?"

"Yeah," Wally held out his hand. "It's lucky you've got me – no classes today."

"Yeah, me and Wally were just…" Jesse started, but realised personal chat wasn't on the cards today. "So, sonic disruption?"

"As Ms. Snow informed you on the phone, STAR has had a mass break out last night –"

"I wouldn't say 'mass' – it was only three metas," Cisco countered.

"– which included Black Siren. Utilised, she has the ability to knock out Barry and Kara's communications array," Lyla continued without a hint of Cisco's interruption.

"We've isolated their last known location, so you two and Ray are to go and check it out," Caitlin stated.

"Suit up?" Wally smirked to Jesse.

"Fine," Jesse groaned, still not sure about being a hero but if Kara was in trouble she had to go.

The two took a little longer than expected changing into their outfits – Wally into his black and silver attire, Jesse into her red and yellow – but they returned looking ready to do business. "Cat Grant's going to have fun when she sees us," Wally noted, pulling on the sleeves in slight discomfort.

"That's the least of my worries," Jesse moaned, checking her reflection in the glass of Barry and Kara's suit container.

"Your mission is to rescue Flash and Power Girl," Lyla went on, ignoring the banter, "if they happen to have their so-called rogues in tow, help detain them and get all back here in sufficient time."

"Yes ma'am," Jesse gave a mock salute to the head of the ARGUS before glancing to Wally. "Well, better now than never." Her chest was pounding – this was something Jesse had never wanted to do, let alone accept, but the time had come with Barry and Kara possibly needing their help.

"Together?" Wally suddenly suggested, holding his hand out to Jesse, who took it gratefully.

Lightning suddenly flashed in both of their eyes and then they were gone, running the streets of Central faster than a normal human being ever could. Caitlin had given them their destination, but they weren't ready yet – neither had ran the city and this speed before and it felt so freeing, both feeling so alive… Even Jesse couldn't help admitting that this felt better than she'd expected, better than when she'd ran the treadmill.

Wally began to move Jesse in a direction and she didn't argue, the yellow and silver blurs speeding toward an old Lord Enterprises warehouse where they came to a sudden stop, just shy of bursting through the door. "Last known location," Wally now whispered to Jesse, who nodded.

"It's very possible they're inside somewhere." This was Ray's voice, both looking around to see him take sudden form out of thin air; he was grinning when he reached full height. "Oh it's been a while since I was Atom! I'll go first, see what's happened and then you can… you know, come after me." Before anyone could counter this, Atom had shrunk again and flew quickly through the crack in the door.

He stopped very suddenly at the sight that presented itself: Barry was trapped in some sort of glass container, trying to vibrate his way out of it, while Kara seemed held in some metal cage, red lights glowing at her from all directions. He saw Malcolm in discussion with a black man, the Laurel double was pacing around Kara, while Anti-Flash, in his electric-blue uniform, sped around the real Barry in some form of torment. This wasn't what he expected – why go so far as to capture the Flash and Power Girl? Unless it was a test or a trap? Perhaps they needed ARGUS agents instead of superheroes for this one.

Before Ray could voice what he saw or what he was thinking back to the two speedster behind the door, the door itself burst open, Wally and Jesse stepping in to see the scene themselves, Merlyn and Tokamak turning quickly to look at them while both Siren and Anti-Flash stopped their pacing. Barry and Kara looked to the pair now, half-worried, half-impressed.

"Silver and Quick, I assume?" Merlyn asked, stepping forward.

Ray quickly expanded to full size next to the two speedsters as Merlyn took a step backward. "And Atom? Well this is a class reunion." He looked back to Barry, "all we need is Oliver and Sara and it would be like old times."

"Not happening, Merlyn." Ray stated. "What's your plan?"

"Do I really need a plan?" Merlyn smirked, "I don't act – I just do, as a great man once said. I can't remember who. The point is, I needed friends and now I have them."

"Let us go!" Kara suddenly stated, "I don't know how you… I feel so weak, but please, Malcolm, let us go."

"Shut up, alien." Siren suddenly spat at Kara, glaring at her as Merlyn raised an eyebrow to the trapped Kryptonian.

"Do you like it?" Merlyn sudden referred to Kara's cage. "Red sun technology. I wouldn't believe it myself, but apparently it replicates the light from her home world; Hewitt here helped build it in no time and it took very little to get Little Miss Power Girl here locked up and human…"

"How did you know about red sunlight?" Jesse now asked, her fist clenched at seeing her sister trapped, so close to being rescued but so far too.

"I was once the Demon Head; I had, and still have, eyes and ears everywhere – including ARGUS. Perhaps this will teach the Little Miss not to go blabbing to senior staff at their meta-human facility. I know Ms. Prince would agree with me – I hear the government's Department for Meta-Human Affairs would have something to say about their secret organisation being so careless."

"You have spies at ARGUS," Ray concluded.

"Obviously" Merlyn rolled his eyes. "And it wasn't hard to source material that even the Flash couldn't phase through too." He nodded to Barry. "Helps that it's sound proof. One Barry Allen is enough for me."

"I'm  _not_  Barry Allen" Anti-Flash hissed at Merlyn's dry wit.

"Whatever. I suppose now is the time you fight? Three again three? Whomever wins has the fate of Flash and Power Girl on their shoulders, so I'll warn you not to lose, on either side."

Jesse didn't wait. Seeing her sister in such danger she ran to Kara, but Siren stood in front of her and screamed – rocking the building and disabling all three heroes; in fact, it sent Ray's suit's electrics on haywire as he suddenly shrank to half his size before shooting up to being normal-sized once more and sparking dangerously.

A jet of flame shot in front of the three now as Henry Hewitt took centre stage, muttering, "I've been waiting for this for so long!" before aiming his jet straight at Wally, who ran to the side as, distracted, Jesse tried to go for Kara once more, but she wasn't skilled in fighting, as Siren threw a powerful left hook, the female speedster falling to the floor as Kara called her name, worried, hating to see her sister take on her fight.

Ray would have helped, he wanted to help, but his suit was fried – in literally both senses as Siren's scream knocked the circuitry and Tokamak's fire melted some of the external panels. He was useless to the battle now and quickly withdrew, trying to call for back-up from ARGUS while Jesse and Wally took on the two active metas – for some reason, Anti-Flash didn't act; he just stood in front of Barry's cage to watch the inexperienced superheroes take on the Rogues who had trained and tested their abilities long before either superhero had gained theirs.

Wally found himself on his own pretty quickly as Jesse had been rendered unconscious by another blow to the head from Siren and now stood, battered and bleeding, facing Tokamak and Siren. Tokamak resembled Firestorm greatly in that his very features seemed on fire, while Siren simply clenched her blooded fists, standing over Jesse's unconscious form. Kara was whimpering for her sister while Barry kept punching the glass; trying, and failing, to break it and join the fight and help save his friends.

"Looks like it's one-nil to us," Merlyn suddenly stated, removing himself from the shadows of the warehouse as he slowly applauded. "Siren, very good fighting style – I like that you don't rely on your powers. Henry, you seem a little bit too bent on revenge, but I can help you control that. Malcolm Junior," Anti-Flash glanced at this in curiosity, "you don't want to be called Barry Allen, so I suppose naming yourself from me will do for now… nevertheless, you disappoint me. You let the others do the work for you."

"Speak for yourself," Anti muttered. "Who said this is my work? Who said I have to follow your orders?"

"Cold feet?" Wally spat at the blue-cladded anti-hero. Although if they could get this clone to trade sides it would be helpful.

Before Wally could even try and sway Anti, though, there was a sudden bang, like gunfire and Tokamak was on the ground, bleeding from the shoulder and suddenly something dropped on Siren – a white cladded figure with blond hair. Back-up had arrived. Alex, Sara and even Dinah had turned up; Wally didn't wait as he grabbed Anti-Flash before he could react, all thoughts of changing him gone, and slammed him against Barry's cage, the clone collapsing in unconsciousness as Alex fired another shot at Merlyn who dodged the bullet and met Kara's mentor in hand-to-hand combat.

Wally ran Jesse's unconscious form out of the way as he checked to make sure she was okay; moving outside to get some fresh air and suddenly hearing a distressed Caitlin in his ear: "Wally! The signal had been blocked from the warehouse, you've just come back on. What's happening? Ray informed us of Kara and Barry's situation and Alex –"

"They came. Jesse's out cold but fine, I was on my own but I think with Sara, Alex and Dinah we might have the upper-hand now. Merlyn's a bastard though…" Wally sighed.

There was a loud scream, emanating from Siren within and Wally saw it before it happened – the warehouse shook and began to crumble. He took a momentary decision and ran straight into the building, grabbing Alex, who had just freed Kara and taking them both outside, returning just as the walls began to explode outward to grab Sara and Dinah, who were situated near Donna and seemed to have been both fighting the meta before she let the place down. Wally noted Barry's glass container had shattered and both Flashes were gone.

Back outside on the pavement, Wally caught his breath as Alex, Kara, Sara and Dinah looked around in confusion, the warehouse finally tumbling into ruin. "What the hell was all that about?" Wally finally stated to the group.

"Merlyn. He wanted to test his new recruits. Against you. We were the bait," Kara stated, before adding, "where's Barry?"

"Back at the labs with Ray and Anti," Caitlin informed the group through their earpieces. "That was a nasty collapse, but I don't detect any other life signs in the rubble." She added, a little worriedly, "I think Siren, Tokamak and Merlyn are dead!"

"No." This was Sara, "Merlyn never dies. It's not in his nature. Kara, Wally, can you check the rubble? You're the quickest. If you have your powers back?" Sara added to Kara who nodded.

"I think the red sun only dampens the powers; I feel that they're back already," she tilted her head back, allowing a momentary breath of air, the yellow sun's rays to soak in a bit more before she and Wally moved to the rubble, checking in top speed before coming up blank.

"No bodies," Wally confirmed. "Merlyn really is a magician if he can get himself, Siren and Tokamak out of there without us seeing…"

"Not the first time he's been able to fool us," Sara stated darkly. "Come on, let's get back to HQ; at least we managed to get Anti-Flash back…"

-PowerFlash-

They returned to find Ray already trying to make repairs on his Atom suit, Barry pacing before his clone and the others waiting. Lyla stood in front of Anti-Flash, looking as if she were about to shoot him. She was furious.

"Nice to see you all in one piece," Caitlin smiled weakly, "Put Jesse on the bed, I'll look over her." She added this for Wally, who was carrying his unconscious partner before she added: "Shame a lot of the Rogues got away."

"We're so calling them that," Cisco stated, "Revenge of the Rogues – can you imagine it?"

"I'm pretty sure we already had that though," Caitlin countered, starting her check-over of Jesse.

"Please," Lyla interrupted them. "As much as your witty banter is enjoyable, I think the situation is more serious than that. Aside from Mr. Allen's clone here, I have been thinking of our offer and I believe converting Kara's large training room would be a perfect starting place for an ARGUS facility, we can deploy guards to keep an eye on the pipeline and bring in staff to help train and reform some of the meta-humans in containment – in all honestly, Mr. Ramone, the conditions you keep these beings in is less than humane."

"It was Doctor Wells' idea, the original one," Cisco muttered, looking suddenly like a schoolboy being given a month's worth of detention.

"The fake Wells who turned out to be the Reverse-Flash?" Lyla countered. "I would have thought it obvious once his true nature was revealed that you wouldn't keep his methods but…"

"We were putting them in the meta human section of the jail but that went bust," Cisco retorted. "It's not like we have the time or resources to do much else than what we're doing."

"Look, do whatever you think needs to be done," Barry interrupted, "a reformation of our ways was long on the cards and Dig and Kara obvious trust you guys, just… don't turn this place into some sort of military facility, I've had enough of those to last a lifetime." His thoughts were instantly on General Eiling and the hell he and his men had put him through during the first year of his speedster debut.

"We shall play minimal role in 'Team Flash', don't worry." Alex stated quickly, glancing to Lyla, "I shall relocate here myself though to help Kara like I was before, as well as help rehabilitate those in your pipeline and help out on guard duty."

"Sounds good to me," Barry shrugged, his eyes never leaving his double though.

With no more to say, Lyla withdrew herself, indicating for Alex to follow. They were to go and look over Kara's training area as well as the pipeline and neither Barry nor Cisco really cared now – Barry may own the place, but both he and Cisco had come to realise that the way the Labs was utilised for holding metas wasn't humane and something needed to be done about it. Like Eobard Thawne's science to save Jesse, maybe this small takeover was a necessary evil for a better environment. Plus, Barry knew Kara would benefit from having Alex around once more – apart from Jesse, Alex seemed like the female figure she needed for continuous growth.

"Four speedsters." This was Wally. He moved next to Barry to look over the clone. "Wow, he really does look like you though, except for the facial hair…"

"He is my clone," Barry stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Kara looks just like original Kara. Dinah here looks just like Laurel. He should look like me."

"And that's all I'll ever be known as," Anti-Flash suddenly stated, his mask was off but the outfit was still on, "I came to realise that when you lot were fighting and then when Malcolm called me by his name…" He leaned his head back with a groan. "I want an identity, a life, something that isn't Barry Allen or this stupid place."

"STAR Labs isn't stupid," Cisco immediately countered, offended by the remark.

"What did Malcolm offer you?" Sara suddenly asked. "He had to offer you something, this is Merlyn we're talking about."

"Freedom. Identity. Bullshit. He just wanted me to be his slave, like I was my creator's slave," Anti-Flash moaned. "You have me, you may as well just lock me up and let me rot again!"

"No…" Barry suddenly moved away from his double, a lightbulb flashing in his head. He grabbed Cisco by the arm to move him away from the group before muttering to Vibe: "I need Jay Garrick. The real one. I think we can solve two problems with one solution, so to speak. Jay wants to go home; Anti wants an identity. Jay's my late dad's double and Anti is mine…"

"You want to offload Anti on Jay?" Cisco replied back. "I suppose it's worth a shot. I did Vibe the wrong world, and not Earth-3 after all; this time I could even contact Winn while opening a breach."

"That's the spirit. I just hope Jay will cooperate," Barry muttered, turning back to the waiting group. Kara had an odd look on her face, having obviously heard the entire conversation, but it was Anti-Flash whom Barry turned his attention to. He had his eyes closed and his head still lolled back, obviously having accepted his fate.

"So, what do we call you?" Barry asked his double, who didn't react until Barry kicked him on the foot. "I refuse to call you 'Anti' or 'Anti-Flash' anymore, so what do we call you?"

"What…?" Barry's double looked Barry up and down. "You want me to name myself?"

"If you don't, one of us will," Barry indicated the others.

"I called myself Dinah after my proper first name," Dinah helped, Anti glancing at her in confusion as she added, "I'm a clone of Dinah Laurel Lance, who went by Laurel all her life. I go by Dinah myself; Laurel died earlier this year."

"And Kara calls herself Kara after her own self," Anti countered. "It's not very creative and I don't want to be associated with Barry Allen."

"Then how's about Merlyn's suggestion? He may put a bad name to 'Malcolm', but in all honestly Malcolm is better than some other names. You could go by 'Malc' if you find the full name a little too much" Kara voiced.

"Or Mally" Ray suggested thoughtfully.

"Not Mally," Barry's clone countered before looking to Barry again. "I escape, help trap you and Kara in cages and you're not punishing me for it? Am I still unconscious?"

"You've been punished long enough, Malcolm. I never thought to try and help you when we caught Duplicate. I just assumed you would always be her minion," Barry stated with a sigh, "Plus I don't like seeing myself in such a bad condition."

There was a rush of air and Barry turned to see the familiar, and somewhat disconcerting face of his father – of Jay Garrick. He looked momentarily confused to everyone in the room before smiling that almost convincing cover-up smile Barry knew only too well from his real father – it was the smile Henry Allen put on when he wanted Barry to believe he was okay, when he really wasn't. Jay was confused and somewhat lost.

"Ramone called me," he stated, addressing the Barry in the red suit, knowing this to be the right Flash but glancing continuously to the other, to Malcolm.

"Cisco was wrong," Barry stated, taking a breath as he thought of the words he needed to say. "When he vibed your world, he got the wrong place. Your Earth isn't dead; it's very much alive and I've even been to it."

"I don't understand?" Jay frowned at Barry.

"Superman, Starman, Supergirl… they're all part of your world, from the original Kara's word," he indicated Kara before them, "and I want to send you home."

"Supergirl?" Jay responded, having heard of the others too and then faced Kara. "Oh my, you do look like him; like Superman." Jay had met the Man of Steel once or twice and never realized the similarities between Kara and him before. "But I never knew of a Supergirl…" Barry bit his lip. Were they wrong? Was it just a coincidence what Cat had said about their world's Flash?

"When were you taken?" Kara asked firmly, and Jay gave the date which she couldn't help but smirk to. "Then you wouldn't have heard of me – well Supergirl. The original Kara revealed herself to the world not long after you were taken."

Jay couldn't help but grin at this. "Well then send me home, please. I have a city to protect." He was clearly more than overjoyed to be going back to his world and the worry and concern on his face had been completely obliterated now.

"Not so fast," Barry raised a hand. "You're taking your son with you?" Jay raised an eyebrow and Barry took breath. He had never told Jay that his counterpart was his dad, but it was time to explain everything – or at least everything Barry was happy to admit about Jay's other life.

"I had a son" Jay finally voiced when Barry was silent, "but he died, a long time ago" he glanced to Malcolm, who was looking concerned at the older speedster. "I couldn't save him, but I'd be happy to save you" he told Malcom direct, moving over to help the young man up before turning to face Barry once more. "Please, send us home." Barry nodded to Cisco who already had his Vibe goggles out.

"Tell Kara we say hi," Barry added quickly, knowing Cisco was sending them to Kara and Winn as space rippled out in front of Cisco, Jay and Malcolm. The latter still seemed unsure, but didn't waste time in taking an almost literal leap of faith with his new father.

-PowerFlash-

She hated working late, especially as that meant time away from Carter and money straight down the drain to pay for the nanny, but it was a necessary evil if she spent that time wisely, researched all she could about the warehouse destruction and the strange un-Flash like blur that had taken over the city some minutes before that. What had happened? She had read up on the Anti-Flash, on the Reverse-Flash and knew a lot about Zoom, but this was something different, the blur was more pronounced, like there was more than one speedster behind it…

But of course, that was it! There  _was_  more than one speedster behind the new blur! Central had gained more. But were they good or evil? The warehouse had long since been abandoned, Maxwell Lord having move his company into the centre of the city some time ago, and that part of the city itself now only having low-lives and rodents; there were no reliable first-hand information, no traces in the rubble. It was possible that the Black Siren woman had returned, the one who looked so much like the deceased Laurel Lance, aka Black Canary – she had toppled a few buildings in her debut after all. But the Canary wasn't the Siren and if rumours were to be believed, Siren was from Zoom's world, not this one. She was also meant to be on Team Flash now, unless her allegiance had changed.

Parallel universes, meta-humans, multiple speedsters… if Cat wasn't so confident in herself she would call for back up in keeping up with all this city had to offer, but she wasn't that sort of person and she wouldn't give up or give in even if her life depended on it. Time and tide may wait for no man, but the media waited for no woman.

There was a sudden breeze and Cat looked up to see if a window had been opened and had to blink several times. Maybe she had dozed off? Superheroes never came to speak directly to the media, they just let the papers do their things and they did their superhero bits. But sure as the sun would rise. four people now stood at the entrance to her makeshift office – she recognised the Flash and Power Girl, but the other two were new to her.

"I usually have to wait several weeks to get an interview with one celebrity, not hours for four. What can I do for you… heroes?" Cat asked, not getting out of her seat as she looked the four over.

"Miss Grant" Power Girl stood forward; Cat noted the symbol on her chest and cocked her head curiously at it; it wasn't a lightning bolt like the other three, so her association was definitely different to the speedsters – if the red and yellow and silver and black heroes were speedsters, of course. "We trust you and your reporter Iris West not to make a biased report on recent events, we believe it was about time you got your first real article on the Superheroes of Central City."

"You've come for an interview? Well…" Cat leaned back in her chair. "Where do we begin? Maybe with you two," she nodded to the potential speedsters. "What do we call you?"

"Silver," the male one answered first.

"And Quick," the woman responded; her voice quivering as if she were nervous. That was interesting.

"Unusual names. Not what I would go for, but I got to name Power Girl," she nodded to the other female, "so I'll give you that. Tell me, what do you know about the warehouse destruction today? Blurs similar to yourselves were seen only minutes before the collapse."

"We can tell you everything." This time the Flash spoke, he alone covering his voice with that strange vocal wavering Eileen had informed her of, "but we have to start at the beginning. And we cannot give identities."

"Of course," Cat leaned forward, extracting a pen from a cup holder and picking up her pad. "I have all night." Suddenly the idea of paying for a nanny didn't seem at all bad.


	9. Vigilante Injustice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightwing appears in Central, alongside Speedy herself, both chasing their own meta-humans.

It was strange. Even though she had stood in the office just the other day; now, without the mask, the friends and the outfit and just in normal clothes and by herself… Cat Grant seemed a lot more intimidating than ever before. She thought that having Kara Danvers memories of the woman would make this easier, but that was far from the truth.

Kara hadn't wanted to get a job, let alone go on an interview, but at the insistence from Alex that she couldn't just mooch off her friends and family, Kara had gritted her teeth and looked for the first thing that came along. When that had failed and she bumped into Iris to discover the Cat Grant's PA job was still open, it seemed like a match – one that her Earth-3 double would have had agreed on. After all, she did have some experience there with her memories of the other life – depending on how different the two Cats were, she should know everything for this job already.

Which was why she stood here, in the doorway to Cat Grant's makeshift office at CatCo Picture News, looking to the media mogul with a sense of building dread and anticipation. She hadn't even spoken to the woman until she knocked on one of the glass panels to get her attention.

As Cat looked up, she cocked her head in somewhat surprise before squinting her eyes momentarily and sighing. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"I've come about the PA job," Kara hesitated. "Iris mentioned…"

"I thought Eileen had long since given up finding someone to match her apparent skills," Cat muttered, nevertheless not removing her eyes from Kara all the same. "Have we met before? You look very familiar."

A 'Yes' would have been the appropriate answer, but since she didn't want Cat Grant knowing her immediate secret there and then, Kara went with the alternative. "No, Ms. Grant. Iris suggested…"

"Of course she did," Cat interrupted and leaned on her fists, placed under her chin as her elbows rested on her desk. She didn't remove her slightly larger-than-life glasses. "Take a seat, Miss…?"

"Wells," Kara supplied, nervously taking the seat offered. "Kara Wells."

"Wells? As in Harrison Wells? I didn't believe he had any children," Cat remained in position, her eyes searching every inch of Kara, making the secret superhero rather uncomfortable.

"No. He… he was my uncle. My dad's brother." It was the story she, Harry and Jesse had come up with together, and the records that had been faked to accommodate. If anyone looked into it they would discover Harrison Wells had twin who had two daughters; one biological and one adopted. They had kept Kara as the adopted child, since she looked nothing like the dark-haired rest of the family.

"Elaborate," Cat stated, unable to hide the curiosity from her vocals.

"Urm, I don't – well, Harrison Wells was one of twins; his brother is my dad. Harold Wells. He goes by Harry though… but, Ms. Grant, I thought this would be a job interview, not a life interview?" Kara tried a tactical approach.

"And what are job interviews if they aren't about your life?" Cat stated, finally leaning back slightly so as to rest her arms on the desk. "Well then, Karen –"

"It's Kara –"

"– what experience have you had in this particular career path?" Cat ignored the name correction. Iris had warned Kara of this, and in her memory experience of Cat, Kara had expected it. Hell, Cat Grant still called original Kara 'Kiera', and Kara had almost been expecting that name too. "Why choose to come and work under Cat Grant? Are you sure I haven't seen you before?"

"Well, and to answer your questions in order Ms. Grant." Things were starting to feel a little more natural, "Not exactly. I've interned for some companies, not anything as big as CatCo, of course." It was another lie, but fabulously and effortlessly pulled off, "and I didn't choose to come to work for you. The job was open and I have applied. I hope you find me a worthy candidate, of course. And no, we've never met before."

"You've got guts to pull off the truth," Cat smirked, "The job is open of course, but it may not suit you. There has to be a reason, beyond a simple application, to choose applying for my PA."

"With respect, Ms. Grant, but you're a powerful woman, you know what you want and you get it, from what I understand. That's an admirable quality any young woman, such as myself, would want to obtain," Kara tried. It was strangely fun playing with Cat in this way, knowing the woman in a way Kara shouldn't thanks to both Iris' suggestions and her own memories.

"That's the answer I was looking for," Cat leaned back in her seat, a small smirk on her face. "That's all very well though, but can you PA for me? There are many long nights, phone calls, emails, and hand written letters. I would ask you to deal with clients for me, as well as organise events for companies such as Lord Enterprises and the Daily Planet. I like to hold regular galas for charities too, the first of which will be coming up this month. Eileen has started, but it's not quite her speciality."

"I could show you my resume…" Kara started, about to reach into her small handbag for the sheet of paper she and Jesse had fabricated with the help of Cisco, but stopped, "but something tells me you wouldn't care about my past. I can do this, Ms. Grant. I may not have dealt with the scale of clientele CatCo deals with, but I can adapt." She remembered, as in some sort of television flashback, her other life, the job interview Kara Danvers had had with Cat Grant, using her powers to cheat her way into the job and something told her not to do it that way this time; Cat was powerful, yes, but she was also a mentor and hid a strong, motherly, caring side she didn't let cameras or interviews catch – if she was anything like that Earth-3 Cat, anyway.

"If you can leave at the end of your first day without a tear to be seen, then you may prove worthy. I'll need to think this over, Miss Wells. If you have the job, you'll know by Friday and start a probationary period of one week followed by a month temporary contract. Should you survive the first week and stay beyond that first month, we shall review your future; maybe a one-year contract depending on your abilities. Please leave me your resume and contact details so I can let you know either way." Cat smirked at the girl as Kara finally did pull out the document, with contact details, and handed it to Ms. Grant.

Kara stood, noticing the interview was over as Cat momentarily glanced over the forged documents. "Err, Ms. Grant?" she tried.

"Uh huh?" Cat didn't remove her eyes from the piece of paper.

"I admire what you're doing with the superheroes of this city. Before your arrival the Flash was met with quite a backlash of both media support and hate. You seem to be in control of how he, and these new ones, are covered. I admire that."

Cat looked up at Kara with a small smile now. "Thank you. I named Power Girl, I keep the Flash in check; if you haven't already read the latest article in my newspaper, and online of course, it gives more insight into them and something else, rather special. Good day, Karen."

-PowerFlash-

"'The Superheroes of Central City'" Jesse sat in the new rec room of STAR labs – it wasn't a very big space, having been an old disused lab itself that Jesse had repurposed into living quarters when ARGUS had removed the equipment for her, and since she didn't have an actual home or house on this Earth, it was better than nothing. She even had a little TV tuned in, but not on at the moment.

She was reading aloud the article in the CatCo paper to Caitlin, who was curled up on a recliner opposite her. The day had been a little lazy since Kara had gone off to interview at CatCo itself, and Cisco and Harry had Barry covered while he looked into some strange meta activity, so both girls had decided to take their minds off things by doing a final set up of the rec room and now sat for a rest.

Jesse was speed-reading, but slowed herself down enough to verbalise some of the lines that struck out to her, such as "The Flash's heroics have saved Central for more than two years now" and "CatCo named Power Girl as such for her power and femininity" – it was a fun read though. Silver and Quick were barely in it, Cat wanting to do a big reveal expo piece when they were eventually ousted, and since there weren't any pictures of Jesse and Wally in their outfits anyway, focusing the article more on Barry and Kara worked in favour, especially when using images from Power Girl and the Flash's fight against Maxima to give the article it's edge.

"You'd think Cat Grant thought herself the queen of world, the way she writes." Caitlin yawned as Jesse reached a quiet moment.

"Oh she does. It's very rare to get her to write an actual article – well, that's what she told us when we did the spontaneous interview anyway," Jesse stated. "From what Kara said of Earth-3's Cat, this one is practically the same. Makes you wonder if some people are unchangeable even on other worlds."

"I wonder how Kara's getting on?" Caitlin muttered as conversation switched to Kara. "I wish she'd taken her suit with her, so I could monitor her vitals and know she's safe."

"You mean spy on her and see how the interview goes?" Jesse teased with a laugh.

"That too," Caitlin stated, too tired to argue. "I mean she's really only a few months old even with borrowed memories. It seems she got robbed of a childhood and forced right into adulthood."

"She's happy enough though, even without the sort of childhood you or I have experienced" Jesse vocalised.

"Even so…" Caitlin lazily argued.

"What's up with you and Ray?" Jesse suddenly asked, changing the topic from her sister, not sure where the conversation was headed anyway and waking Caitlin straight up.

"What do you mean?" she was defensive as she rubbed her eyes, clearly alert now.

"Well, you're pretty much an item, I just wanted to know how far you'd gone," Jesse asked, before elaborating. "I don't get much in the way of gossip these days, with just Team Flash for company, so I'd like to know, is all… If it helps, Wally and I got to second base last night." She gave Caitlin a little wink.

"If we're using that terminology, I'll just say we've done a home run a few times, okay." Caitlin stated quickly, unable to keep the small smirk off her face nonetheless.

"Oh yeah? Proud of you, girl," Jesse did a little solo high five but stopped when her eyes met the doorway. "Kara?" She jumped up.

"Why are you two talking about sport?" Kara asked, always the innocent as she looked between Caitlin and her sister.

"It's nothing. Just boy talk." This was true enough even though it seemed to confuse Kara. "So how did it go? Did you get the job?"

"Possibly," Kara moved around to the spare seat and perched on the edge. "I don't know. I think so. She was on about contracts and from my memories of the other Kara's experiences with Cat, that can only mean good things, right?"

"Of course," Caitlin stated. "You have the experience with Cat that even she doesn't know about it. You'll ace this, I bet." She gave Kara reassuring smile.

"You've got this sis. Can't wait to get first-hand gossip from Cat Grant herself. Screw confidentiality, okay?" Jesse joked, they having already discussed job issues before, of course. Kara smirked at her sister.

"Where's Barry?" Kara suddenly asked, curious. "He was supposed to have the day off so we could shop for work outfits."

"Oh, there was a meta alert, he went to investigate while you were with Cat," Caitlin informed her.

"Right. I'll check in, see where he's up to." Kara stood, and moved toward the door.

"Hey, what position have you and Barry got to?" Jesse couldn't help but ask her sister, even though she was sure the two hadn't even kissed yet.

"Position?" Kara looked back to Jesse, confused.

"You know, sports terms, double entendres…" Jesse knew Kara enough now to know her innocent mind wouldn't have a clue what she meant.

"Neither of us play sports," Kara responded, completely confused as she glanced to Caitlin, who kept a straight face as she innocently shrugged at Kara who momentarily glanced worriedly at Jesse before leaving the room.

Caitlin and Jesse glanced at each other before bursting into laughter. "Seems borrowed memories don't lead to knowing everything. Or Kara of Earth-3 was just as innocent."

Jesse smirked as she rolled her eyes. "I think me and you need to give her some girl talk, eventually."

-PowerFlash-

The man in question was currently surveying the city, almost Arrow-style as he looked out for anything unusual, specifically in the plant-life variety.

They had gotten the alert earlier this morning – two cops had gone AWOL reporting in from a possible murder, only to be discovered a few minutes ago strangled to death, along with the unknown victim, by thick, resistant vines. Plants didn't do this type of growth and so quickly – they hadn't even been able to release the cops from their entrapment, so forensic analysis had to wait until they found a way to cut the growths, or at least stop them from growing – the cops and unknown victim were still being consumed by the plant life.

"There's no detection on anything anomalous in the plant kingdom of Central," Cisco spoke in Barry's earpiece. "Harry's looking into ways and means, but even he never encountered that sort of meta on his world."

"It's an impossibility," Harry's voice suddenly took over Cisco's, "the merging of plant and human biology has to be how this meta works, but with so many missing clues and no way to detect them…"

"Don't worry guys, I can zip about and look the old fashion… oh, hang on…" He had noticed something. "Can you look into sector seven, localised near the Lord Enterprises building?"

"What is it?" Barry could hear Cisco tapping away, looking into the location.

"I think we have some visitors…" Barry ran, speeding down the building and toward the area he'd spotted the strange movement, moving up the side of Lord Enterprise's twelve-storey building to come to a stop just behind two strangely dressed people. One, he actually recognised in a red outfit, supporting a bow and arrow, but the other he didn't. His outfit – it was definitely a 'he' – was a mishmash of blacks and blue, but it was Speedy who turned around to face the speedster first.

"I wondered how long it would be before we got your attention." She couldn't help but grin as Barry smiled lightly back at her.

"What are you doing here? Who's this?" Barry asked a little defensively.

"Tracking down a meta this guy lost," Thea Queen explained, glancing to her cohort, "and this is Nightwing."

"Nightwing?" The voice in Barry's ear almost screamed, Barry wincing as Cisco apologised. " _The_  Nightwing?!" Cisco now insisted, Barry ignoring him.

"A meta you lost?" Barry addressed the pair. "This plant-meta?"

"She's called Poison Ivy," Nightwing spoke up, his voice deep and masculine, "and she's an escapee; I've been tracking her down for some time now. I believe she thinks Central City would be a safe haven for her, being the meta-human centre of the world, apparently."

"She's not from Central?" Barry couldn't help but ask, to a nod from Nightwing. "I thought metas only originated from here?"

"Then you are wrong and naive, Flash." Nightwing stated simply. "Nevertheless, since I have lost track of her, perhaps working with your companions back at your base would be more efficient, I can help them track her."

"Oh, now he comes around to the idea," Thea moaned rolling her eyes. "The moment he said Ivy was a meta I suggested you guys, but no, he had to track her down on his lonesome."

"Didn't stop you joining me, did it?" Nightwing retorted, although a little softly as Barry could swear he winked at her.

"How did you… Speedy?" Barry asked, a little lost now.

"He tracked Ivy to Star; I'm no longer part of Team Arrow now. Olly's found some new recruits, became mayor, you know the story… so anyway, I thought I'd join Nightwing on his search for a plant woman. Are we going to stand on a roof all day or are you going to introduce us to Power Girl and show Dick around STAR Lab?"

"Err… Dick?" Barry asked, glancing to Nightwing then back to Thea who smirked. "Right. Yeah. Well, you know the way by now…" Completely lost as to what was going on, Barry turned on his heel and ran, heading back to STAR while Cisco obviously, and amusingly, geeked out in his ear.

-PowerFlash-

"Nightwing's history goes back way further than Arrow's" was the first thing Cisco informed Barry as he noticed Kara now waiting in the labs for him too; he wanted to ask her how her interview had gone but didn't have the chance as Cisco remained in Barry's immediate vision, explaining what he knew of Nightwing before the aforementioned vigilante got to the labs himself.

"He first turned up in Blüdhaven about ten years ago claiming to investigate a criminal called Black Mask, but ended up turning the police force around for being so corrupt. He was vicious but strangely kind in his role, a lot like Arrow, but completely different. He also had a sidekick for a time but not much came of them. Records report that his vigilante history goes all the way back to childhood, and if Thea's right in his first name I can't believe he may in fact be Dick Grayson, part of the Flying Graysons, murdered by –"

"I think that's enough history lessons, Mr. Ramone," Harry suddenly cut in as Nightwing himself stood in the doorway to the Cortex, observing the place and scowling at Cisco; Thea stood beside him, her hood already down as she grinned at everyone.

On closer inspection, Nightwing's outfit greatly resembled Barry's, being somewhat formfitting and adaptable, but he wore no head mask and had intricate armour attached to the lower and upper parts of the costume. The symbol on his chest was larger and blue while the outfit itself was completely black. He did wear a mask over his eyes though, which remained in place and looked somewhat daunting, spiking off down his cheeks and up to his forehead to make an impressive, almost bird-like shadow; he didn't seem impressed or nearly as happy as Thea, who was already hugging Cisco – although probably to shut him up more than anything.

"So, was that bio correct?" Barry asked as Kara remained silent behind him, trying to keep up.

"For the most part," Nightwing responded. "And I am Dick Grayson, and as Nightwing I have maintained vigilance over Blüdhaven – until recently, obviously."

"Poison Ivy?" Harry now asked.

"Yes. Escaped Arkham Asylum last week. I tracked her down to Star City first and came across Speedy here; she's been by my side since then," Nightwing informed the group. "But enough of my personal life, I'm only here to use your expertise in tracking down Ms. Ivy."

"Never heard of 'we scratch your back, you scratch ours'?" Kara asked now, a little despondent with the attitude the vigilante was exerting.

"Yes. I know this is a favour and I guessed it doesn't come free of charge," Dick reasoned, running a hand now into his slightly too-long black locks. "But I'll be willing to help you guys with something in the future if you can help me now." His attention turned from the suspicious Kara back to Cisco.

"No problem, man," Cisco breathed as he took a seat back down, aware of the hostility suddenly evident in the room. "Identifying features? What exactly are her powers? How was she made?"

Dick moved over to Cisco now as Barry looked worriedly to Kara; Thea didn't look very impressed with her latest associate's attitude, so moved over to the superhero pair. "I'm sorry, Dick can be…"

"A dick?" Kara supplemented.

"Driven," Thea corrected. "It's been his goal since he left Blüdhaven to get Poison Ivy and the further away she gets, the more… driven he becomes."

"Why are you with him anyway? Why not part of Team Arrow back in Star?" Barry asked; the three all talking under their breath.

"We're dating," Thea stated, quite abruptly. "We connected, we hooked up and we're dating. Like I said, Olly and Felicity have a new team in Star with added mayoral duties for Olly, and when I realised Speedy wasn't quite done yet I jumped at the chance to travel with him across America to find his target. I'm helpful and I think more clearly than him; he made a lot more mistakes before I joined him."

"Don't let your personal emotions cloud your judgement though," Kara stated, a little sharply at this.

"Hark who's talking," Thea snapped back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kara rounded on Thea now.

"Ladies… please," Barry interrupted. "I thought out of everyone from Olly's family of vigilantes, you two would get on the most."

"I'm sorry," Thea and Kara said instantly.

"I guess I'm on edge," Kara supplied; "New people. Rude people." She glanced over to Dick who was leaning over Cisco now before turning her attention to Thea. "I'm sorry."

"Who exactly are you?" Thea added suddenly. "I know of Power Girl – everyone knows of Power Girl – but you're at an unfair advantage if you know both my identities and I only know one of yours."

"Superhero secrets," Barry muttered to Thea with a wink. "She's Kara Wells, daughter of Earth-2's Harrison Wells."

"Adopted daughter and an alien – sort of. Basically a clone of an alien. It's complicated," Kara added, "thus the superpowers…"

"Oh." Thea blinked at this, a little confused. "Glad I now know. Right." She wasn't too sure where to go from there, so Barry took over.

"Poison Ivy. What about her? Why is Dick so keen on catching her? How did she get her powers?" These were all questions Barry was dying to get answered.

"I only know what Dick's told me, but her origins aren't quite known – they usually centre around a scientist or her college professor, a Doctor Woodrue either injecting her with venom or throwing her into her own botanist work, but what I do know is that she has advanced powers to control plants; make them do her own bidding and create ones from herself. She was locked up for a long while until recently of course, and she's been known to seduce men through plant pheromones, so you'd better watch yourself Allen. After escaping Arkham though, she made her way to Blüdhaven where Dick first found out of her escape and he's been hunting her down since…" Thea sighed, taking a breath after her long-winded explanation.

"Hunting her down to catch her or… something else?" Kara added, a little shrewdly.

"What do you mean?" Thea asked.

"Well, she seduces men. She and Dick have obviously met. He's perusing her come hell or high water… see the dots?" Kara voiced.

"I don't think he tracking her 'cos she seduced him," Thea reasoned, "besides, I've already thought of that. Olly even tested that out with some Lian Yu herbs… seems he's clean of Ivy's pheromones."

"Well, keep that in mind for when they do eventually clash," Kara stated. "Do you guys need Team Flash or is Team… Nightwing good enough?"

"Super-speed and Power Girl may be of help, but maybe as back up until Dick realises he can't do everything…" Thea smiled to Kara now, both women knowing what she meant – Dick's masculine pride would get in the way first.

"We have a hit," Nightwing spoke up, getting the other three's attention. "Should have guessed she'd be at the local gardens. Central City Botany Centre – three massive greenhouses, perfect for harbouring a plant-based lifeform undetected; well, nearly undetected."

"Need our help?" Barry offered, knowing Thea's word, but testing the vigilante nonetheless.

"Nah, I got it. Well, Thea and I have. Come on Speedy." With one last look to Thea, he left the Cortex. Barry was by Thea's side before she could move however and placed a coms earpiece in her hand.

"For when you need us," he whispered in her ear, she nodding resolutely before following her boyfriend out of the facility.

"Wasn't he a blast of sunshine…!" Jesse commented, standing by the doorway having been watching the whole thing since Kara had left the rec room.

"I like Thea though," Kara stated to her sister, glancing to Barry at this.

"Thea's cool. Just Dick… he's a dick, let's be honest," Barry stated.

"He's just getting on with his work," Cisco reasoned, "if you took the time –"

"Just because you think the sun shines from his ass, doesn't mean the rest of us should," Jesse interrupted. Cisco scowled, but said no more.

-PowerFlash-

"I suppose now would be a bad time to mention I get hay fever?" Thea joked in a hoarse whisper as she and Nightwing entered the large greenhouse, adding a little too lightly: "And this outfit is leather. Not very good in the heat which is what –"

"Speedy!" Nightwing growled for quiet; Thea shut up, letting her partner take the lead while trying to ignore the argument happening only in her ear, back in STAR Labs – Jesse and Cisco were having a full-blown row about Dick, while it seemed that Kara, Barry and Harrison-2 were trying to listen in as to what was going on with their field operatives. It felt almost homely, reflecting back on the arguments Olly and Felicity had while they had taken the field.

"Did Cisco isolate where Ivy would be?" Thea asked Nightwing, knowing that he and Cisco had found Ivy to be in this place, but not knowing how specific the location was.

"Nope, just this place," Dick replied, "Keep your eyes peeled. If they're not puffy." He tried to joke but fail miserably and knew it from the look on Thea's face. "Just keep your eyes open."

Thea rolled her non-puffy eyes and moved on quietly, trying to ignore the heat beating down on her from all angles, wishing she were in something cooler now for this potential show down. It was ironic considering that in all the time she'd watched over Starling, and then Star, it had been night and cool, now she was on a real mission it was in broad daylight, inside a greenhouse, and she was still wearing the hot leathers.

The things she did for justice. And Nightwing.

"Maybe I should look into getting a new costume," Thea mumbled to herself, loud enough though that everyone in the lab could hear them.

"Cisco could get on that" she nearly jumped when Kara talked directly to her, and ignored her as she continued to look around, not letting Dick in on her connection back to Team Flash at the moment.

Considering most of the plants in this place were shades of green, blue and even black, finding the redhead that was Poison Ivy was slightly easier than possible – she was near the back, standing over something that neither Dick, nor Thea could believe.

Ivy herself was humanoid in all sense of the word: tall, thin, in a dress of ivy leaves with long flowing red hair reaching her lower back, but what she stood over was anything but humanoid. From Thea's perspective it was like looking at a six-foot Treebeard, from that Lord of the Rings franchise, but the head was anything but tree-like. Had someone cut off a man's head and integrated it with that of a tree-like form? It was almost sickly.

Neither had noticed the two vigilantes creeping up on them as Ivy paced about the humanoid figure, she was talking and it was all Thea could do not to hit Dick for breathing a little too loud so as to hear what Ivy was saying…

"…ages to find you! You have no idea,  _Professor_  how long I've waited for this revenge. Your experiments on me may have caused my insanity, but I'm glad it disfigured you beyond recognition."

"I may deserve your revenge," the thing muttered, crouching down before Ivy as he looked up to her. "But can you not see what perfection we are? Perfected from the very Earth itself –"

"I despise that the Earth chose you as some form of representative! I am the only mouthpiece she needs. The true Mother Nature."

"You were a mistake! That role was always going to be mine!" As he spoke, plants around him moves, swaying to his words as Ivy braced herself, lifting her arms.

"The mistake was yours to try and make yourself perfection, like me!" Ivy snarled as the tree behind her shot forward, growing at exponential speed toward the male, wrapping what could only be described as his arms while the grass below Ivy's feet shot up, wrapping around her legs, sticking her to the spot.

"It seems like you're both stuck," Nightwing called up, both individuals turning toward him.

"Nightwing!" Ivy snarled. "Tracked me all the way to Central City?" As she spoke, the grass grew further up her body, almost cocooning her from the waist down.

"I didn't know you had co-conspirators though." He moved quickly, just as ivy itself shot up from the ground, he avoiding it with skill.

"He's nothing but a coward; I wouldn't have him if the Earth herself depended on our collaboration!" Ivy growled, the grass cocoon breaking with ease as she stepped from it toward Nightwing – the other plant being used this opportunity to strike though, roots shooting up around both vigilante and villainess, thick oak trees encasing both in seconds.

"NO!" Thea cried as Dick vanished beneath the bark and the male plant stood to his full height, looking surprised to see Thea there; she having been half-concealed before this moment.

"Who are you?" He boomed to her, suddenly growing in height, able to control his very plant-based body with ease.

"Not until you answer that question yourself!" She had bow and arrow pointed at the thing already, unsure where to strike but believing the flesh of the face the softest part, and thus the weakest.

"I am the Earth itself, the very essence of plants and life, the only thing standing in the way of your complete destruction, human." The thing growled down at her. "But since you like to name things so, you can call me Floronic – and no arrow will pierce me, not even the last remnants of my human vestiges."

There was a crash as glass shards suddenly surrounded the pair, both looking up to see a woman in white come speeding down, a jet of red light shooting from her eyes as she targeted Floronic, his very bark-like skin catching fire as he screamed in pain. At that same moment something very fast appeared from nowhere, a red streak that pummelled itself in Floronic, sending his burning body flying into one of the metal posts that made up the greenhouse. It bent and the glass surrounding cracked and shattered in the sudden force.

The cavalry had arrived.

"We told you to call for us," Barry stated as he sped to Thea's side, rubbing the arm he'd used to punch Floronic. "You didn't tell us we had two plants to deal with."

Kara landed next to Floronic, who was already using the plant-life around him to stand, no longer on fire as he rose his arm-like appendages; the canopy of cover the larger trees made grew, plunging the three into darkness just as the tree containing Ivy split in two; the woman stepping from it and looking flustered, glancing to the new arrivals before turning her attention to Floronic.

"He is mine," she whispered in anger; Floronic paused as he glared to her, but already she had moved, speeding toward him as if she were flying. He didn't have the reaction-time as a giant leaf propelled Ivy to the air and she changed momentum, hitting the thing at full-force and throwing him from the greenhouse.

Thea didn't even wait to act herself, sprinting after the couple as Barry hesitated, glancing toward Kara, deciding what best to do at the spur of the moment – this wasn't their fight, and as much of a danger Ivy and this Floronic was, they didn't seem to pose much of a threat on the public unless they turned a city into a forest… and that hadn't happened yet, so should it in the future? Kara nevertheless nodded, indicating that Barry should go after Thea and Ivy, so he smirked as he turned and ran, leaving Kara with the tree that contained Nightwing.

He found Thea surprising far off, her athletic skills obviously come in handy as she stood by one of the rivers that lead into the bay Barry had so often ran across – it proved handy for the Botanical Industries of course, and he paused. "What happened? Where did they go?"

"Across the water," she stated, a little despondent. "I don't… Can you chase them? You can run on water, perhaps you can find them?"

"I think it's better for your dick boyfriend to stop Ivy and her creator, not me," Barry decided with a sigh, looking down the direction of the river flow. He could run across it, chase the two and drag them back to Nightwing… but they could easily trap him in a tree like Dick was at the moment, or contain his legs like Floronic did to Ivy so he couldn't break free.

Thea sighed too now. "I guess Central was just a pit-stop in the end. And he's not a dick, just misunderstood."

"Aren't they all?" Barry teased; "Come on, we'll see if Nightwing can be released from his wooden cage…" he picked up Thea, who didn't complain as they raced back to the greenhouse to find Kara pacing the new oak.

"He's alive," Barry dropped Thea on her feet as Kara elaborated: "he's sleeping, or at least in stasis beneath the bark…"

"How can you…?" Thea asked.

"X-ray vision," Barry answered. "She can see through things us mere mortals can't. Well besides lead."

"Your weakness is lead?" Thea asked amused at that.

"No, I just can't see through it," Kara stated as she scowled playfully at Barry for a moment before turning back to the tree and hitting it with full force. Bark went flying, but it wasn't enough, so she punched it again. On the third strike she used her bare hands to tear the plant apart and free the man within before laying him on the ground.

Thea dropped to her knees before him and then suddenly slapped him – the sound echoing throughout the cavernous greenhouse as Nightwing's eyes flew open. "Did we win?" he asked, in shock.

-PowerFlash-

"If you'd had done your research, Grayson, you would have realised that Ivy hadn't escaped Arkham Asylum – technically. She was let free," Harry stated to a disorientated Nightwing back at STAR Labs; he sitting with Thea behind him, her hands on his shoulders while Barry and Kara paced, listening to the explanation Harry had managed to research. Jesse wasn't in the Cortex anymore while Cisco remained surprisingly quiet. "The conditions of her escape wasn't of her own making; she was released by this Floronic-being, but it seems she didn't want it, whatever he was offering to break her out."

"Meaning?" Dick asked quietly. Thea had insisted they return to STAR Labs before they continued their pursuit of these two metas, and as Dick had finally decided to contact someone for help now there was more than Ivy to detain, he could use the break STAR Labs offered him; plus, this Doctor Wells person had done some invaluable research into Ivy and Floronic that Dick really neglected to find out to start with.

"Well, running a facial recognition software off of a known database of the citizens of this county, Floronic is in fact Doctor Jason Woodrue; the man responsible for Ivy's current condition. It's reason enough to believe she wanted nothing to do with him, so we can only hypothesis that he originally wanted her to be part of whatever plan he had concocted, but she obviously didn't want anything to do with it. A clash of personalities, to say the least."

"Why did it take so long for her to find him?" Dick asked now, still trying to get his head around what had happened while he'd been tree-feed. He had to continue the pursuit, no matter what 'Team Flash' said – Ivy needed to be put away, and this Floronic too now.

"Presumably she did immediately. Like I said, I can only theorise, but it's more than likely he was waiting for her when he freed her; she may have been more than a match for him so he fled and she pursued, trying to stop him. You just happened to not see the starting point and only the object straight ahead." Harry concluded with a sigh.

"Blind only to your target" Thea commented. "If I didn't like you so much I'd say you were like my brother."

"Well, that's kind of gross," Jesse had turned up again, a small smirk as ever on her face as she looked to Thea, "if I were dating my brother…"

"He's not my brother," Thea sighed, "only like him in one aspect. He doesn't keep secrets from me at least. Well, not that many anyway." She gave Dick a slight squeeze on his shoulder.

"Well, your life," Jesse gave Thea a wink as Dick suddenly stood.

"Thank you, Doctor Wells" he nodded to Harry before glancing to Cisco now. "Mr. Ramone, a word."

He moved over to Cisco, pulling him away from the computer banks so as to speak in silence, aware however that Jesse was watching them with eyes narrowed. "Thanks for the help, it was actually invaluable – I would never have found Ivy if it wasn't for you… Of course, now she could be anywhere on the open ocean…"

"Harry can find her again for you!" Cisco suddenly pleaded. "It's really easy – all you need is a special algorithm and to hack a few satellites…"

"I've kind of already done that. A friend of mine owed me a favour; I contacted him earlier and he's also agreed to help me and Speedy now. Making us a threesome. We're meeting him outside the city limits shortly. But you guys are pretty amazing, though. Look, I want you to take this," he produced a small metallic thing, similar in design to his eye mask. "If you need me, whenever and for whatever reason, just give me a call. Time for me to scratch your back, like Kara said."

"Thanks man," Cisco grinned in spite of himself, taking the communication's device. "Word of advice though," Cisco suddenly said, removing his eyes from the small bit of technology. "Keep your eyes open, for Thea, I mean. If you want to keep her, holding back secrets is the worst thing you can do. Keep her at arm's distance if you want, but don't leave her in the dark. She has a bad history of that happening."

"Of course." Dick smiled.

"Oh, and sorry for the whole history lesson earlier… I just… well, you're you, aren't you?"

"My reputation does have the knack to precede me," Dick smirked, patting Cisco on the shoulder before turning back to the room and marching forward, addressing his partner in crime who was deep in animated conversation with Jesse: "Thea, time we leave."

"Sir!" Thea mocked, saluting Nightwing as Jesse saluted too. Barry and Dick groaned but Kara and Cisco couldn't help but smirk; Cisco in spite of his argument with Jesse earlier. With a nod to her latest friends, Thea followed Dick out of the Cortex, leaving a somewhat awkward silence in their wake.

-PowerFlash-

"'Botany Centre Battle – Blüdhaven Vigilante Seeks Superhero Help'," Cat quoted to the room of journalists gathered in her office; Iris stood at the back observing. "I want all research into what happened on my desk within one hour, miss the deadline and you're fired. We're the first to cover this and we must maintain deadlines." Many nodded, some groaned but all complied as they filed out of the room, heading back to their computers or to take to the streets and to head to the greenhouses themselves. Iris remained alone with Cat in seconds.

"Oh, I love sending the mass running. Keep their jobs on the line, that's the key, Eileen." Cat stated, sitting at her desk and staring at the other woman. "I wonder what Nightwing was doing so far from home, and why that Star City vigilante was with him too…?"

"Speedy," Iris supplied.

"Terrible name. Should be… The Red Arrow? Hmm, if Star can have The Green Arrow, maybe colour-coordinating their Arrows is an easier way. Makes my work a little finer, if a bit dull," Cat theorised.

"I think she'll come at with you an arrow if you try to change her name," Iris risked, trying not to laugh at the mental image of Thea chasing Cat Grant with her weapon.

"Very well," Cat said, rolling her eyes. "Speedy it is."

"About your PA…" Iris suddenly stated, wanting to know the answer. Cat had said after her interview with Kara that morning that 'Karen' had seemed a worthy candidate – in fact, the only candidate in the long list that had seemed acceptable. The interview had gone really well in Cat's eye too.

"Yes. Harold Wells' daughter did prove her worth." Cat stated, now absently chewing the bottom of her pen in thought. "I know I said to wait for the end of the day, but let's face it she is the only one for the job. Call her up in the morning, she'll start Monday."

Iris couldn't help but grin at this, nodding to Cat who wasn't actually looking at her now as she seemed in a world of her own. She left the office to take a seat at her desk. In an hour she would have external information about Thea and Nightwing's appearance in Central, but she had an hour herself to get inside-information from Barry, Kara and even Cisco, and with good news like Kara's job, today's article was to be better than others.

Finally, someone to take Cat Grant from Iris' already busy life.


	10. Category Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The full extent of Kara's powers are shown as the team fight against evil Red Tornadoes.

"Karen!" Cat Grant called to her new assistant. It was Monday, Kara's first day on the job and already the CatCo boss had a million things she wanted Kara to do, including this latest assignment – it was lucky Kara had her other life experience to help her deal with the sudden influx of information in this life.

"Maxwell Lord is introducing something that will revolutionise the police force later, apparently, and I'd like you to assist Eileen in getting the scoop – two CatCo representatives would be more efficient than one. You will take photos too as I've yet to hire on a competent photographer." All this time Cat didn't look at Kara and when she was done, finishing her analysis of an article related to sports, did she look up to see Kara still lingering. "Well? Get to it!"

"Yes. Sorry, Ms. Grant." Kara retreated from the office, still not entirely used to this type of life – Kara Danvers' memories or not; nevertheless, she moved over to Iris who looked up from her desk to smile politely at Kara. "I'm tagging along." Kara stated as she leaned against the desk.

"I heard. It'll be cool though. Barry will be there so you can see him," Iris said.

"And so will Julian?" Kara asked innocently.

"I don't see why he would be. It's not like they're introducing a corpse for him to look over," Iris mused a little despondently.

"Oh. What are they revealing anyway? Cat – I mean, Ms. Grant – just said it was something revolutionary… that could cover anything."

"Not sure." Iris mused thinking over what she knew so far. "I've heard that it's some kind of weapon, but who knows. Best not to speculate when in this business – speculation leads to bad press according to Ms. Grant, and that's the worst kind of press for this paper…"

"Well, whatever it is, I'm meant to take pictures." Kara stated, "so goodbye James Olsen. Who needs you anyway?"

"James Olsen?" Iris asked, not knowing about the Earth-3 CatCo photographer, or even Winn's half-brother.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Wrong life." Kara said with a small laugh as she forgot James Olsen wasn't part of this setup.

Iris rolled her eyes and resisted laughing. "I don't know how you keep your lives straight half the time. I couldn't do it if I was you." Iris made sure to whisper so no one could overhear them.

"I couldn't be me without them – that's the difference. Anyway, let me know when you're going to set out and I'll tag along, camera in tow." Kara smiled, about to head back to her desk opposite Iris'.

"Hey Kara," Iris suddenly called out, Kara turning to look at the West girl. "Thanks." She smiled and nodded toward Cat, the implications of her thankfulness evident as Kara chuckled. "I should have thought of you earlier" and Iris meant that; she didn't know why asking Kara to take the job hadn't occurred to her when she knew Kara Danvers was Cat Grant's assistant, and Kara had Danver's memories.

Settling back behind her desk, Kara however, added in final response: "No problem, 'Eileen'."

"Hey, let's not have that attitude, 'Karen'." Iris joked back with a smile and a laugh.

-PowerFlash-

Today was a big day.

That was what everyone at the CCPD had been told, and more especially so for Joe. It had been a busy fortnight in preparation for this too, and after the departure of Patty last year he had finally brought in two new recruits to the meta-human task force. He had actually been surprised that he had found people who wanted to work with meta-humans and were as good as the two he had gotten, but both Barbra Gordon and John Stewart had wanted to join and were really good – he had gotten two good people. Besides, it was important that the task force had more than one person representing, according to Singh, as Lord Enterprises' involvement in their future was pivotal with a well-versed meta-human task force.

Which was why he now stood in front of his two new recruits, waiting a little worriedly for Singh to finish his conversation with both Maxwell Lord, head of Lord Enterprises, and Diana Prince, the government representative for the Department of Meta-Human Affairs. Lord had some big plans for the CCPD and after so many years of Meta attacks, Joe had to wonder what exactly this technological advancement was that he was introducing.

"Detective," Singh entered the side room that Joe and his new recruits had been waiting in.

"Captain." Joe nodded, bowing slightly to the attractive olive-skinned woman accompanying his captain and the rather smug-looking gentleman whom accompanied Singh.

"As you know, Detective West," Singh started formally, "in half an hour, Mr. Lord will be revealing his new technology…"

"If I may interrupt?" Lord's voice was as smug as his appearance. Singh gave the man a look but didn't say anything more, letting him take the floor. "The new prototype to which I have brought to this place is but the first in a long line of objects that will help keep the public safe." Lord informed them. "It is not a weapon but nor is it technology, or at least, technology as you currently know it. I only intend to integrate them into your force, most particularly your meta-human department –"

"I am still uncomfortable with this," Diana Prince spoke up, a slight accent to her voice, and Lord actually rolled his eyes. "Weapon or not, meta-humans are humans too. They cannot always control what they are and to be rounded up by this technology…"

"No-one will be rounded up, Ms. Prince." Maxwell sighed, "I was just saying it would help, Detective West and his colleagues in their lives as meta-human police."

"I still don't like this. Too many things could go wrong. Besides the meta-human police here have the Flash and now Power Girl to help out. Seems they have been doing okay to me," Diana stated defiantly.

"Well, unless someone plans on putting them on the payroll here, I am sure they have a life and jobs of their own. You should not expect these  _superheroes_  to always be there and maybe after this you won't need them anyway," Max said with an odd look on his face, and the way he vocalized superheroes was strange to Joe. The dislike for them was present to all in the room despite Max not actually saying it aloud. Flash and Power Girl had too much good press, especially lately, for Max to publically attack them.

Joe moved on, deciding to vocalised his next query to Max: "Will myself or my colleagues be able to see what this magical and controversial device is, or will we have to wait like everyone else? You've built quite a reputation for this thing, Mr. Lord."

"Max, please, formality doesn't mix with pleasant company," Max stated politely. "But sadly not. My people are bringing it in for the reveal, not a moment before – the first time its left my company will be today and as you may be aware, I feel rather protective of it."

"Secrets don't keep good company either" Diana spat out at Max, who smirked in reply.

"I'm sure you want a word with your Detective, Captain Singh, so why don't Diana and myself leave you four in peace?"

"Sure," Singh sighed, not sure what else to say as Diana Prince stormed from the room, Max smirking to himself but following nonetheless.

"Nice people," Joe stated, a little sarcastically as they were left in peace.

"Max has been killing me since he arrived; Diana is just easily irritated. Anyway, Joe, Gordon, Stewart," he addressed the three officers, "you will be front-and-centre at this reveal, so whatever Max has up his sleeve, be wary of it, okay? He's never been keen on meta-humans, so if this is to 'help make the public safe' as he puts it, it may be dangerous to them. We all know not all metas are bad people. Joe, I'll need you to say a few things after me. Something generic and appealing to the press, you know the sort of thing."

"Yes sir," Joe mused. "Is the whole precinct going to be there?"

"Along with half the press," Singh sighed. "Max does like to build a buzz. Good luck." He nodded to Joe's fellow officers before leaving the small room, the sound of Max and Diana's arguments clearly audible when the door opened.

"It's a weapon. Got to be," Gordon stated to Joe.

"Have to agree there, this is Maxwell Lord, after all." Stewart replied, arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, whatever it is, keep vigilant, okay detectives?" The pair nodded as Joe opened the door to let them leave before taking a moment to breathe himself. Barry had better be around – the Flash coming to their rescue was inevitable today…

-PowerFlash-

Kara had never been to the CCPD precinct before, not even as Power Girl, and she had to admit she was impressed – the foyer entrance was large and grand, and the balcony that covered three of the four walls above allowed for excellent visuals for those down below. The plan was open, but with glass walls separating offices; some still with their shutters down so as not to let the public see everything happening in the place – this was an official police station, after all.

The crowds of press that were gathered were in the main hall, the officers and workers lined offices and the balcony – Kara could see Barry and even Julian above, opposite herself and Iris and grinned at him – but across the hall and directly opposite them was something covered in a sheet, it had two guards on either side and Maxwell Lord, recognisable from her alternative life, stood off in animated conversation with a tanned woman she didn't recognise. The man gave her a chill and she wondered how much this Lord was like the one she knew.

Turning her attention to thing with the guard cartel, she hesitated to use her x-ray vision before looking through the sheet; it was doubly-covered as it was also contained in a crate of sorts and, when Iris leaned in to ask if she could see what was inside, Kara muttered back: "It's a person, or at least person-shaped. It's hard to tell, I think there's some sort of lead property to the crate it's in – I can't see it clearly."

"You can't see through lead?" Iris whispered back.

"Nope. Normally that doesn't bother me as elements of steel and aluminium, the more popular in construction, contain very little in lead so I can see through them easily…"

"And yet a box outdoes you," Iris muttered with a small smile, trying not to laugh, her notepad out as she was apparently writing something already. "Grab a 'before'' shot now, Kara. Also pictures of Lord during his inevitable speech and the object in question would be great for the paper."

"You're getting good at this," Kara smirked as she snapped a clear shot of the crate and sheet. Something didn't feel right though, like a niggling feeling in the back of her mind was restricting her from working at full capacity. Almost like Déjà vu but not quite...

"Welcome everybody!" Max had removed himself from the conversation with the woman and introduced himself to the crowds in one swift movement. "I'm Maxwell Lord, of Lord Enterprises, but you can all call me Max. I'm aware of the intrigue I've provoked ever since I announced the best way to revolutionise our police task force since the introductions of meta-humans in our world, so I shall go right to it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first in hopefully a long line of 'Lord Enterprises Sentient Protectors' – Project Tornado!"

As he announced the name, he threw off the sheet and the box unfurled at the same time. Kara had an instant sinking feeling as the red humanoid android the box contained brought back terrible flashbacks and she groaned. It was Red Tornado. The robot she had faced off in her alternative life that drained her of her powers.

"Kara! Photos!" Iris hadn't heard Kara's groan, or saw the look on her face as she tapped Kara on the shoulder to take a snap. Biting her lip, Kara obliged as she waited for Maxwell to continue, to introduce the thing that was going to cause havoc on the city, on the Flash and on Power Girl – Kara just knew it. Nothing good would come from this, and it had made up her mind. This Maxwell Lord was the same as the Maxwell Lord she knew from Earth-3.

"Project Tornado is a one of a kind, sentient piece of technology." Max went on, not helping Kara's feeling of dread. "It has the ability to work on its own, without an operator, to detect any meta-human and issue warnings should that meta be acting outside of the law. But have no fear, those meta-humans among us; for while it will detect what you may be, unless you are acting unlawfully, it won't be pressing charges." He let off a terribly staged laugh. "I intend to work closely with Detective West and his small number of meta-human police to make Central City, and the world itself, a much safer place."

A round of somewhat enthusiastic applause met this as Kara glanced worriedly up at Barry, who seemed to be sharing her concern. A meta-human himself, maybe  _the_  meta-human himself, 'Project Tornado' would indeed cause the Flash harm as literally everything the Flash did could be considered 'unlawful'. As an alien though, Kara had to assume that it wouldn't detect her and she was only slightly glad for that.

It seemed Iris was thinking the same thoughts though as, on Max's request of questions, her hand was in the air before anyone's else's and her question was on the mark: "Iris West, CatCo Picture News," she introduced herself quickly. "What about those meta-humans who have to act outside the law to bring justice to those who intend to, or have completely violated these laws?"

"I assume you're talking about 'The Flash' and that Power Girl, Miss West," Max retorted. "CatCo Picture News? As in Cat Grant. Well, well, well, she did go far in life… but to answer your question, Project Tornado has been programmed to understand those who act alongside it, to understand the help it would be given by these so-called 'Superheroes' so it wouldn't act against them, unless they acted against it, of course."

"You mentioned sentience," Iris quickly replied back before any other reporter could get a word in. "You speak like it's a computer that makes decisions for itself. Why go to so much trouble to do what humans and other metas are already doing?"

"I want to keep myself in the game, Ms. West, I won't deny it. Whether that means making my own type of good guy is reasonable. Yes, Tornado has a form of intelligence akin to your smart phones; tracking troublemakers and issuing warning or even arrests should those troublemakers have the meta-human gene and be using that advantage to their own disadvantage."

"Why Tornado?" Kara couldn't help but ask, causing a few reporters to drop their hands, obviously one of their main questions. "What does it do?" She had to know. To be sure.

Max smirked though. "Thank you for the question, Ms…?"

"Wells. Kara Wells, of CatCo too." She introduced herself.

"Well, Miss Wells, I think an introduction is in order." He turned from the crowd to activate Project Tornado and Kara took the opportunity to tell Iris in a quick whisper a condensed summary of her previous encounter with a robot called 'Tornado', which she responded with a worried glance back to the thing and then to Kara again.

"I present," Max called out, "Project Tornado's powers – on a very low frequency, of course." He stepped aside as the robot man took a few movements forwards before it's lower portions began to spin, levitating it from the ground to create a very small pocket of air underneath it. A tornado.

This was met by another round of applause, which was cut short when Tornado shot forward, knocking an unsuspecting Max over and unconscious as the crowd gasped, Tornado scanning its audience before suddenly shooting up, its pocket of air turning into a very visible tornado before it shot from the precinct. Iris managed to grab a last-minute snap, as Kara had handed the camera over to her when Max turned the machine on, of its retreating tail wind before Joe and Singh moved forward to check over Max and a flurry of voices began to discuss what had just happened.

Kara looked up to Barry to find he was gone and knew what this meant – without even a 'bye' to Iris, she too ran from the place, taking quickly to the air as she arrived in STAR Labs to find Barry already there and waiting in his Flash outfit, along with Silver and Quick as Cisco sat at the computer bank with Caitlin by his side and a third tech-wiz on a laptop by their side – Winn.

Winn Schott Jnr had joined their escapades literally the previous day. It had started on a visit to the West household to discuss his brother with Wally and had somehow ended up at STAR Labs with Wally revealing himself to be a speedster to his singing friend. If Winn had wanted to put charges on Wally for beating his brother to a pulp the other week, that had been forgotten at his inclusion into 'Team Flash' and he had also managed to calm his brother down to get him not to press charges. It wasn't the first time Jim had been beaten up in a bar anyway. Kara was secretly glad Winn was part of the team now, Wally's wellbeing aside, Winn had been her best friend and confidant on Earth-3, after all, and even if he wasn't the same Winn, she wasn't the same Kara either, to be fair – he could prove a great help to the growing team of superheroes now.

"I can't get a hack into its system," Winn was saying as Cisco leaned in to check what he was doing.

"Okay Kara," Barry now stated, "what do you know? I could see it in your eyes."

"Project Tornado is Red Tornado," Kara stated, elaborating quickly as she hadn't told Barry of this feat before. "In my other self's early days as Supergirl, General Lane tried to unleash a robot called Red Tornado on me and it almost defeated me – the other me, obviously. The only way I could stop it was drain myself of all power and become human for a day. Well actually it was more than a day."

"Oh," Barry looked worriedly to Kara now. "Surely Project Tornado wouldn't be as bad?"

"No, it's worse." Alex had just walked in; joined by the same tanned woman Max had been talking to at the precinct.

"I know you!" Barry suddenly exclaimed, before cocking his head in confusion and backtracking. "Sorry. I thought…"

"Diana Prince, head of the Department for Meta-Human Affairs." She introduced herself as Alex moved over to the computers. "I'm well aware of the set up you have and the help you give Central City and the wider nation. Maxwell Lord is unconscious and Lord Enterprises are trying their best to remotely shut down Project Tornado, but I fear this will get out of hand."

"Like I was saying: this is worst, Ms. Prince." Alex indicated the monitors on the wall, showing footage of Red Tornado – no, Red Tornados – flying across the skies. There were three of them now.

"How?" Kara asked.

"They multiplied," Winn stated, looking a little overwhelmed by his laptop.

"I can see that. Where did it get the other two Tornados?" Kara asked, a bit annoyed.

"I think Max must have more than one in storage," Cisco took over. "Tornado immediately went to Lord Enterprises and… well…"

"We need to stop them. Three Tornados in Central could be devastating," Kara stated.

"But you used up all your powers trying to stop one before, how are we to stop all three?" Jesse now asked her sister with worry.

"Super-sonic punch!" Barry suddenly cried. "If we can get it to the ground, I've been working with Harry on ways to improve my speed with a super-sonic punch. It would shatter one of those Tornadoes to pieces. But it's complicated and takes training… if you tried you'd shatter your arm." Barry suddenly warned the two new speedsters.

"That's great – three Flashes and only one of us can stop these things," Wally remarked, grumpily.

"Kara," Alex suddenly stated, an idea coming to her head. "Remember in training, the Flare?"

"Yeah, but that would yield the same results against Tornado as what happened before. And it's dangerous, I can't possibly do that in the centre of the city," Kara reasoned.

"Then lure it to the wastelands, the same place that nuclear explosion took place a few years ago…?" Alex suggested.

"That was Firestorm unmerging for the first time," Caitlin pointed out, "and what is a Flare?"

"You'll see," Kara stated, a look of forced determination on her face now. "Okay, we lure all three Tornados to the wasteland and then… Barry, Wally, Jesse, you need to get these guys there; I'd need to prepare myself. Barry, when I'm done I'm going to be weak, like seriously weak. You need to bring me here and put me under UV lights, like when we first met."

"Of course, but –"

"You cannot go to Kara's aid instantly, let your eyes refocus and wait for my say-so," Alex suddenly instructed Barry. "The same for you two, especially you Jesse – Kara can do this, we all need to have faith in her."

"We do have faith!" Jesse stated, "If you told us –"

"If we told you what I'm going to do, you'll all hate the idea and try to think of something less dangerous," Kara pointed out matter-of-factly, "so you do this our way, or not at all. Bring the Tornadoes to the wastelands. I'll be waiting." She nodded to Alex, suddenly very much a leader as she left the room to get changed and fly out to their meeting point.

Barry and Jesse were lost for words, but Wally was determined to do his bit. "Well, let's tackle some robots" he stated with a determined look. Meanwhile, Diana watched the scene with a curious expression; not interrupting but not worried now either. Maybe she wouldn't need to reveal herself so quickly after all. Team Flash seemed to have this down to some sort of fine art now. This would be interesting to watch and Power Girl impressed her. She had a lot of potential from what Diana had seen so far.

-PowerFlash-

"Pursuing Tornado two," Barry called into his earpiece, the Red Tornado he had attracted was whipping up quite a storm in front of him, going at speeds even he couldn't match as it was all he could do to keep the thing in sight. They had designated the three Tornados with numbers so they were easy track for those in STAR Labs.

"Quick and Silver have Tornado three in pursuit; the original has already found Kara," Cisco was saying, causing Barry to groan.

"She needs a period of rest or something. Can she do what she needs to do while battling Tornado one?"

"She'll just have to cope," Alex spoke now.

"I can't get into their software at all," Winn announced, he still having tried everything since the get-go. "Max has way too many firewalls, encryption codes, locks – you name it."

"Not even I can break that!" Cisco added.

"Well if I can't break it of course you can't," Winn snapped.

"Not fighting you two," Barry heard Caitlin interrupt.

"Anyway, I suspect the Tornadoes intelligence is helping keep us out. Barry, Kara, guys, you're on your own here." Cisco finally said, regretfully.

"Tornado two's stopped," Barry added suddenly, running up to, and stopping, in front of the Tornado he was facing; it no longer in the air either as it looked to the Flash, cocking its head before its eyes glowed. Barry had only a fraction of a second to avoid the lasers that blew up the pavement where he'd been a microsecond beforehand. "Woah! Did you see that?!" He cried shocked.

"Laser vision. I think Max has been taking a leaf out of Kara's book," Caitlin informed the group. "You need to get out of its beam or find a way to phase through it Barry."

"How are Silver and Quick doing?" Barry asked, taking the opportunity to start running around his Tornado, it following him with just the upper-half of its body in a reverse of its tornado-creating effect.

"Considering this is their second outing; pretty good. They work well together – they've got their Tornado clear of the city; if this were a race then you're in last," Cisco commented, a playful tone to his voice now.

"They have the advantage – woah!" Tornado two had reversed its spin, its eyes lighting up as it did so, and Barry only just caught it in time not to be sliced in half; he'd ducked and rolled, catching his lightning without thinking and throwing it at the Tornado.

Tornado two went flying, crashing into the empty street behind it. "Well, that got its attention" Barry muttered sardonically, stepping backward as the robot shot upward again. "Time to run!"

The Flash streaked through the streets, the robot flying above him, lasers firing as the public ran for cover; Barry himself doing all he could to move people put of the line of fire as he ran. Finally, though, he got the Tornado clear of the city, heading straight for the wastelands where he could already see the other two Tornados in battle with Power Girl, Silver and Quick.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Barry suddenly called.

"About what?" Cisco asked; they had been quiet back in the labs for a few minutes now.

"This Flare thing of Kara's – it doesn't sound safe…" Barry vocalised.

"Damn it Allen this isn't your decision," Alex suddenly cut in. "These Tornados are dangerous; Max is in hospital with concussion, the CCPD need a new roof, half of Central's looks like it's been trampled on by giants and it's taken three speedsters and Kara to get three Tornados in a secluded location and none of you know the best way to stop them. Let Kara do this, okay? You can't be the hero all the time."

"I'm not trying to be the hero!" Barry protested, he otherwise having joined the others as Kara was in full-out laser battle with her Tornado and Wally and Jesse were playing cat-and-mouse with theirs; Wally momentarily distracted and sent flying by the air produced from Tornado three.

"Then round-up all three Tornados near Kara and get yourself and the others out of there!" Alex demanded in Barry's ear, he deciding not to complain at this as he glanced to Jesse who nodded, both now speeding in sudden circles, opposite one another and forcing the three Tornadoes closer to Kara.

"Are you ready, Power Girl?" Alex now asked in her coms, Barry able to listen in as he glanced to Kara who was now no longer in laser battle with Tornado one – it trying to escape the prison Quick and the Flash were making.

"As I'll ever be," Kara muttered, Barry looking to her now as she suddenly crouched and he frowned. "Jesse, grab Wally and get out of here, Barry come back for me when this is done."

"I don't want –"

"No arguing!" Kara shouted, Barry hearing her in both earpiece and in close proximity. "NOW!"

Barry and Jesse ran – Jesse grabbing the immobile Wally – as some sort of explosion happened behind them; Barry glancing behind to see just light, barely an outline of Kara, as heat caught up with him as well as a faint scream. None of the Tornadoes could be seen as his heart raced and his mind wandered. What had Kara done?

"Oh my god!" Cisco was the one to shout in his ear. "That's amazing! I never knew…"

"Kara's vitals are… steady," came Caitlin's surprised response and Barry sighed in relief, "but her energy levels have depleted, and her solar energy is gone completely."

"Tornadoes have been obliterated," Winn added, clearly enjoying this as Barry finally stopped.

He looked back to see the light receding, like a star had exploded and its force was now depleting, shrinking into a Dwarf Star, and he was starting to understand what had happened as he waited, as instructed, for the light to go completely. He noticed the ground was now shining and cracked, fused like glass from torrid and some points, particularly closer to Kara, were still bubbling from the pure heat – heat Kara had expelled from her own body… her solar radiation.

"Get her back to the Labs, now Allen" Alex now instructed him in his ear, as Barry didn't need to be told twice.

He began to move back, looking for any sign of the red robots but knowing Winn was right – they had been obliterated. When he reached Kara it was to find she was naked and unconscious, lying face down on the molten earth Barry couldn't remain on for more than a moment as he picked her up without thought and sped her back toward the Labs.

-PowerFlash-

"She'll be okay," Alex stated, a little defiantly as Caitlin looked over the Kryptonian, now under UV lights as requested. Jesse was flitting between her and the unconscious Wally, who had received a nasty knock to the head from being flung off by his Tornado; the speed she was going between the two was starting to annoy Alex. "And can you just choose one already? Or at least stop using your super-speed to go back and fort between two beds!"

"It's kind of hard to choose between your boyfriend and sister," Jesse snapped, a little too fast as she stopped by Wally bed now.

"How do you know for sure she'll be fine?" Barry asked now, going back to the conversation, looking in on Kara from the Cortex, not liking to see her like this – having only seen her unconscious and weak when she was first created by Duplicate; when he had been forced to throw lightning at her.

"We discovered this ability a few days before she came to find you – she had a sort of meltdown during training and exploded, taking a whole field with her too. But we had her under solar lamps right away and we had a heart-to-heart… But what she's able to do, Allen, what she just did, is push out all the solar energies from every cell in her body, in a sort of explosion, obliterating everything but herself in the vicinity of the explosion. It was lucky she was on a solo test when it was discovered."

"You called it a Flare," Barry stated a little monotonously, "as in a solar flare?"

"Most destructive thing we could think of," Alex smirked.

"I like the name!" Cisco called from the computers with Winn. "Although the full 'Solar Flare' has a better ring to it."

"Seal of approval," Alex smirked, but Barry was scowling, "Look, Barry, I know you care for her, deeply in fact and she does for you, but this was the only way to stop those Tornadoes. She had other life experience with those things, and she knew the dangers."

"I know. I know" Barry muttered. "I just wish you'd have told me before, so I could have been prepared for… for this." He indicated the unconscious Kara, they having moved to the entrance of the med bay now.

"If we had told you, would you have allowed Kara to do it?" Alex asked.

"Fair point," Barry muttered, biting his own lip this time.

"I certainly wouldn't," Jesse suddenly spoke up in between the two beds again.

"How's Wally?" Barry quickly changed tact, knowing this was an emotional double-blow for Jesse, more than himself. He liked Wally, he was a brother to him, but they hadn't got off on the right foot from the start and even now they didn't really know each other that well, even after Barry had initially sacrificed himself to save Wally from Zoom.

"Concussion," Caitlin spoke up, "and a fractured skull, although the skull is already healed, he just needs to heal internally."

"At least he finally got his speed-force coma," Jesse couldn't help but muse, squeezing her boyfriend's hand with a small smile at her own joke. "Kara will be alright, won't she?"

"Weak, maybe even mortal for a day or so, but yeah." Caitlin smiled reassuringly at Jesse, and then Barry at this. "She's determined; once she wakes she'll be desperate to get back to full strength and to her Power Girl lifestyle."

"You know," Jesse muttered suddenly, "I'm going to kill Maxwell Lord one of these days. The stories Kara had of Earth-3's Lord… I think they're identical to each other here."

"Power-crazed, ignorant geniuses?" Alex added.

"Sounds familiar," Barry muttered, thinking of Eobard Thawne now as he squeezed Kara's hand. Maybe Max was the thorn in Kara side Eobard had been for him. "Where did Diana Prince go?" He suddenly asked Caitlin and Alex.

"Back to the precinct – she's going to keep the secret obviously. That's kind of her job and she sort of already knew before this anyway," Alex stated loftily.

"I swear I've seen her before…" Barry now mused, trying to think; Alex simply shrugged.

-PowerFlash-

Iris marched into the office, camera in hand and knowing the hive of activity the place would be; she didn't quite know what had happened, but she had a cover-story for Kara already made up – it only just occurred to her that having Kara in place of herself as Cat's PA wouldn't be as efficient as it should be, especially if she was to cover her for Power Girl stuff.

"Eileen! Where's Karen? Where's my article?" Cat demanded the moment Iris moved near to Ms. Grant's office. "Can you believe the catastrophe Maxwell Lord has caused? Half the city looks like it's been through a hurricane and now Power Girl herself has exploded to stop three of those atrocities!"

"Ka– Power Girl exploded?" Iris asked in shock, almost using her real name. Cat indicating one of the screens behind her, showing areal footage of Flash and Quick running from some sort of solar explosion in the Badlands.

"Never trust an ex, Iris, especially when he wants in on the superhero game," Cat stated, glancing to her phone now and tapping out a quick email before Iris could even process what Cat had just said.

"An ex? Maxwell Lord is an ex of yours?"

"Of course. We've had as colourful of a history as you can expect, but his parents' deaths, his obnoxious self-love, and both of our desires to expand our own companies got in the way. This is precisely why I'm glad he's now in hospital – he's made of nasty stuff, Eileen…" Cat rambled, glancing back to the television screen. "The Flash took Power Girl back to wherever they're from. I need contacts, I need to know if my brand will survive the night and I need my assistant!"

"Oh, erm, Karen – Kara! – had a family emergency. Harry Wells…"

"Say no more. I thought maybe the Tornado thing… Anyway, back to position. I'll need a strict word with that girl in the morning or else she's for the chopping block like so many others. I'm thinking title." She suddenly changed the topic as she paced passed Iris, "I'm thinking 'Lord Enterprises in Shambles – Power Girl Explodes to Save Central City'. It's a bit of a long one, but it has substance. Update the website to give the smallest details possible, keep readers in their seats and then update with the evening issue of the Picture News once we have the full article written. Power Girl is my brand; I need to keep a personal eye on this. I'll start writing, Eileen – you know the Flash, get me contacts. Make sure Power Girl is alive!"

"Ms. Grant I will have to go…."

"Go wherever you need, just get this piece covered" Cat said, waving her arm dismissively at Iris, knowing whomever Iris was going to contact, she couldn't do it from the office. "And just make sure my girl is okay and be back here soon!" Iris nodded as she put the camera down and marched out; she had to get to STAR Labs and see if Kara was okay.


	11. Flash of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Black Flash returns to haunt Barry.

Jesse woke with a start.

She had been at the West household as usual; Wally had recovered quickly from the Red Tornado attack, and so she and Wally had found themselves alone at his for the evening, both curled in front of the television with a lame movie on – the white noise of this, added to the pleasant warmth of the room and gentle rhythmic beating of Wally's heart in which her head was place near, and it was all Jesse could do not to stay awake. Which was when she witnessed it…

Running in some strange swirling vortex, Wally by her side, they had been chasing a figure in black. The closer she and Wally reached, the further the figure sped up, leaving them so far behind it seemed impossible, but neither wanted to give up, neither had the chance to give up. And then it had gone, Jesse and Wally tumbling into the darkness just as Jesse's body jerked awake and her mind knew, it just knew that the black figure had taken Barry – had taken the original Flash.

"What's wrong…?" Wally asked, sleepily himself; his hand had been in her hair, but he removed it quickly as she sat upright, trying to make sense of the waking world.

"Barry," Jesse muttered, leaning into her hands as she perched on the edge of the sofa now.

"Not someone I'd like my girlfriend to be thinking of," Wally joked awkwardly, Jesse trying not to roll her eyes as she lightly nudged him.

"No, I wasn't… Have you ever had a dream that wasn't a dream?" She looked toward Wally now as he muted the television and looked in confusion at her. "I mean; you feel like it should be a dream but you just know it isn't… I'm not making much sense am I?"

"Not really." Wally smiled, trying not to take Jesse too seriously right now. She had clearly had a bad dream and was trying to explain it. Wally knew that feeling – especially recently.

"It was a speedster dream." She moved back to rest on the sofa, her head leaning back so she was sort of looking at the ceiling, "I was chasing something –"

"A figure in black?" Wally suddenly interrupted, jumping up and forcing Jesse to quickly glance at him.

"Chasing after it, but I couldn't reach." She stated now, waking right up – it seemed Wally no longer was sleepy either as his eyes were wide in wonderment. Or was it worry?

"It was chasing Barry in my dreams and no matter what I did I just couldn't reach it," Wally muttered.

"Dreams? You've had more than one?"

"Ever since you came back to this Earth after Zoom was defeated." Wally admitted, "I didn't want to say anything to anyone – even dad and Barry would think I'm crazy."

"It took Barry," Jesse stated, ignoring now the amount of times Wally had had the dream.

"It took Barry?" Wally sat up now, completely alert. "Is this the first time you've dreamt this?"

"Yeah," Jesse looked worried now, glancing about the room as if this figure in black would jump out of the very shadows.

"We have to tell him, we have to find him and talk to the others. If this isn't a Team Flash thing, then I don't know what is."

"We can't involve Kara," Jesse suddenly stated, taking Wally aback.

"We can't?" Wally asked confused. Kara and Barry were…. well, Wally wasn't too sure what they were but he had a feeling Kara would want to know this.

"She hasn't got her powers back yet. If she knew some potential threat were coming… I don't want to think how she'd react." Wally could see the worry for her sister in Jesse's eyes.

"Okay, no Kara on this one. We talk to Barry first, then involve the team without Kara…"

"You know it could be nothing." Jesse hoped now.

"When has anything involving Barry been 'nothing'?" Wally intoned.

"Point taken," Jesse sighed. "And we were having such a good night too."

-PowerFlash-

"Hello Kara, my dear…" Kara's mother's hologram had been activated.

It was first thing the next morning; Kara had woken after a few hours of unconsciousness and remained in STAR Labs ever since; feeling weak and miserable. After some food and a chat with Jesse – before she went to Joe's place with a recovered Wally – Kara had gone back to sleep only to wake in the early hours of the morning, an idea in her head. She wanted some privacy as she didn't want to do this in the exposure of the Cortex, so she had routed the holographic program of her mother to the Gideon Room, which was where Kara was now, sitting cross-legged on the floor, feeling and looking very much like child listening to a teacher or, indeed, a parent.

"I need help," Kara stated, a little sadly. The hologram looked down and smiled sweetly at the Kryptonian clone – it was a very sophisticated programme.

"Anything," Alura In-Ze responded with a smile down to her daughter.

"I need to know about my powers. Specifically, when I blow them." Kara sighed. "I feel weak; I've never felt this way before… I mean, I have memories of the other Kara, the one from your Earth when she faced the Red Tornado and became human for a day, but I feel so much weaker…"

"How long as it been?" Alura asked politely.

"Just over half an Earth day. The last time I blew my powers by accident when training, but they came back reasonably quickly – not quick enough to help Barry though." Kara sighed.

"Your cells would need recharging; more than just putting you under artificial lighting and expecting them to restore. You blew every solar-powered cell in your body; you need to soak in the pure sunlight of the Earth's star directly," Alura offered.

"You mean sunbathe?" Kara couldn't help but joke at this as the hologram raised an eyebrow and Kara tried to remain serious. "Humans have this thing; they sit out in the sun for hours at a time to brown their skin – they call it 'tanning' – are you suggesting I do the same to gain my powers back?"

"Whatever it takes, Kara." Alura stated. "Direct contact with the sun will help charge your cells more than any other option."

"When will I gain my powers back though?" Kara had to know.

"It all depends on how empty your body is of the strengthening solar radiation. It could be hours or it could be a few more days."

"Days? But Barry needs me!" Kara protested, jumping to her feet now.

"Barry Allen needs Kara Wells, not Kara Zor-El at the moment." Alura smiled kindly at her daughter, who was breathing heavily now. "Doctors Stein and Wells have taken all the information required of your abilities into their own databases. I can explain further if you need me to?" Alura tried to help

Kara sighed, turning from her mother to stare at the opposite wall. She felt so conflicted now; she needed her powers to help Barry, but her holographic mother had a point: The Flash didn't need Power Girl. The Flash had been saving Central long before Power Girl turned up and now that he had Silver and Quick… she sighed. "No… no you're right. I think I'll go and catch a bit of sun now – it should be rising after all." She gave her mother a smile who nodded her head politely back and faded from view.

It was still strange using this holographic representation of her mother – she was so lifelike and yet so… alien at the same time. Which was weird considering Alura In-Ze was an alien to this world, but Kara didn't feel as connected to her as she should be – not as Kara Danvers had been on Earth-3, according to her memories. She could remember the day Alex had set up the holographic program in the DEO for that Kara, and how pleased and emotional that Kara had been, but she herself now? Alura was more an instructor, a guidance figure of a Krypton that didn't actually exist in the same way in this universe, she was not her mother, not the mother she never actually had. She didn't know why this surprised her though; even Kara Danvers had become detached from the program after learning some truths about her mother she never knew, but Kara Wells couldn't get attached at all. Even with Danvers memories the hologram just did not feel like a mother.

It sent a shiver down her spine when she thought to Duplicate, and how the clone-maker would be considered her real mother, the woman who created her, and as much as she wanted Alura to replace that figure, the less realistic this wish became the more solidified the meta-human's relationship to her became.

-PowerFlash-

"Another lunch date, Mr. Allen?" Kara and Barry were sat at Big Belly Burger now, both on their third burger when Kara couldn't help but joke – honestly she was hoping that consuming enough calories would help bring her powers back as well as the sunlight, but she had been pleased when Barry asked her out for lunch anyway; Big Belly was literally opposite CatCo Picture News so it wasn't too far for Kara to walk, especially as she couldn't speed anywhere for lunch like Barry could at the moment.

"A friend's lunch date!" Barry quickly interjected, not quite meeting Kara's eyes as he cocked his head to the side slightly, trying not to blush. "Anyway, you didn't answer me on how your first day at CatCo had gone? How's today shaping up?"

"Yesterday? That was fun, before Max came in a ruined the whole thing. Today? Cat's killing me – not literally. It's bad enough I don't have my powers" she kept her voice low at this, "to keep me alert to Cat's needs, but because I skipped half the day yesterday thanks to being unconscious she's made it her life's mission to make the rest of my week miserable. Even if I did have my powers back, I highly doubt Power Girl could make an appearance during working hours right now."

"When will you get your powers back?" Barry quickly interjected. "Harry said it should be sometime today but –"

"I don't know. I spoke to my mother this morning about it, but she wasn't exactly helpful. I don't think her program quite covers solar flares…" She nibbled on a chip, thinking deeply.

"How long did it take last time? Alex mentioned…" Barry started, but stopped at the glare she was giving him. "What?"

"I feel bad enough I don't have my powers, please don't ask me about ifs and whens, Barry." Kara moaned, Barry raising his hands in a very Cisco-like expression of surrender.

"I'm sorry, really, I thought… Look, why don't we do something this evening? Cat free, superhero-free, even STAR Labs free?"

"What are you thinking?" Kara asked Barry a little coyly now.

"Anything you want. Just name it." Barry leaned back, taking a big chunk out of his burger.

"Ice skating."

Barry almost choked on his bite, swallowing it down with pain as his eyes watered and he spluttered: "Ice skating? For real?"

"I've never been before," she smirked at Barry's foolishness as she confirmed, "and without my powers I might know what everyone else means when they say it hurts."

-PowerFlash-

Barry had just left Big Belly Burger and Kara, amusing himself with thoughts of ice skating that evening when he got the call from Wally, diverting himself back to STAR Labs before he could resume his afternoon at the CCPD. He arrived, not expecting the Labs to be so devoid of its usual staff – Ray and Caitlin had gone heavens knows where, Winn was in National prepping for a gig – that still amused Barry, and Stein and Jax were still in Pittsburgh which left only Harry and Cisco, with Jesse and Wally. Alex and the rest of the small ARGUS set-up were elsewhere in the building, although Barry tried not to think about this, already slightly regretting his agreement to let them stay after the events of yesterday.

"What's up?" Barry nevertheless asked the small group innocently, trying not to read the sombre expression on their faces, not wanting to think it was bad new regarding Kara.

"We need to talk about dreams," Jesse stated, her tone incredibly serious considering the topic for conversation.

"I'm sorry?"

"Dreams, Mr. Allen." Harry reasserted, "more particularly, those involving Zoom."

"Zoom?" Barry replied, a little blankly as Wally groaned audibly.

"Jesse and I have been having bad dreams," Wally stated, moving up to Barry as he raised an eyebrow, "about you and Zoom."

"The same Zoom who came out of one of my portals that time we sent you and Kara to Earth-3, to be precise," Cisco sighed, "or at least that's what I believe these two are on about."

"How long have you been having these dreams?" Barry asked, any coyness or ambiguity gone now as he addressed the pair seriously.

"A few weeks," Wally admitted first, "and it's always the same – I'm chasing after Zoom, he's trying to get to you and I just can't reach him to stop him…"

"You've only been Silver for a week," Barry vocalised, "and you've had the dreams for longer?"

"It's the only dream I've had since they started." Wally stated.

"How have you not gone insane?" Barry asked, amazed.

"I have a good coping mechanisms," Wally stated, a little surprised as he realised what this meant for Barry. "You've been having the dreams too, right?"

"Yeah. Not as continuously as you but I remember them." Barry began to pace, "I'm in front of Zoom, running for my life and only just keeping out of his reach – it has no start, and no ending, just… running."

"I think it's an omen," Jesse pointed out. "I had the dream for the first time last night and… you were taken. Zoom took you and there was nothing Wally or myself could do."

"But it's just a dream; something related to the speed-force, right?" He turned his attention to Harry now, knowing the man had something to say about it.

"I would concur, if it wasn't for the events of a few weeks ago when this Zoom figure took Cisco." Harry confirmed sombrely.

"It was hardly Zoom too," Cisco muttered, "more like a Flash of death… a Black Flash."

"Black Flash? Even in dire situations you come up with names for everything," Jesse stated in bemusement, "although I do like 'Flash of Death' – very depressing."

"Forget the name," Harry snapped to his daughter. "We need to stop this here and now. If the speed-force is trying to tell you something, we need to find out what is it, why and how we stop it."

"Which is where I come in," Cisco sighed heavily. "Harry believes I can vibe into the speed-force, like I did before to rescue you Barry, and find out what's going on."

"Which is where you come in also," Jesse turned back to Barry. "You're the original Flash, you're the representation of the speed-force and is what this Black Flash is after – if Cisco can connect you to the speed-force and find out what's going on, we can have the advantage."

"I don't know…" Barry hesitated. "Shouldn't we be thinking of Kara first?"

"What about her?" Jesse now snapped.

"She hadn't got her powers for a start," Barry replied.

"They'll come back, Alex has reassured us. In the meantime, we have this Black Flash conundrum to address," Jesse replied dismissively.

"What if I disagree to it?" Barry asked, a little defensively.

"Then we'll try with Wally and myself," Jesse snapped again, "but we'd prefer you instead."

"Fine. Okay, but first sign of trouble and we stop," he addressed Cisco now, "if that Black Flash comes out of a portal to take you somewhere I would never forgive myself."

"I doubt it's me Black Flash was after," Cisco pointed out, not delving further as Harry exchanged glances with his daughter. "I think we need to do this in the basement. We have that thing set up from last time."

They followed Cisco down to the room in question, Barry quickly changing into his Flash outfit, just in case, while he tried to ignore the worried feeling starting to swell in the pit in his stomach as they entered the basement, Barry taking one glance at the now-defunct breach machine where the fake Jay Garrick had been killed by his alter-ego before turning his attention to the others once more.

"I would ask if you were sure about this," Cisco stated worriedly, "but I know you're not, so we'll just get on with it." He put on his Vibe goggles as Barry took his place next to the metal stand – as there weren't two things to connect with, like last time with the piece of Barry's old suit and Iris, it was easier for Cisco to just rest on the podium, grab Barry's hand and concentrate.

Barry tried not to think of Zoom, but it was difficult when that was what was he was supposed to be concentrating on, and the more Barry tried to think of the Zoom he knew – the kidnapper, the fake Jay and the abusive murderer – the more he could only think of that dream, of being chased, of Jesse's revelation that Zoom had taken him… but where?

An otherworldly storm was swirling around Barry and Cisco now as the three outside of the pair took several steps back, shielding their eyes from the brightness of the vortex that was forming… and then it came – shooting from the top of the vortex with such pressure that it forced Barry and Cisco apart – the Black Flash speeding around the room, Jesse almost screaming as it came to a stop in front of the two newer speedsters.

If this thing had been Zoom, it definitely wasn't now – in fact, it resembled something out of a horror movie, with its costume ripped, it's face rotting and it breathing hoarse. Jesse had a momentary flashback to the first time she'd read about Dementors in the Harry Potter books, or even the Nazgûl in The Lord of the Rings, and suddenly felt a big connection to the titular characters of both of those books and the fear they had felt.

"Flaaaaaaaash," the creature suddenly spoke, no longer in the voice of either Zoom or Hunter; it was a strangled gurgle that confirmed Jesse's fear; Barry was on his feet and between her and the Black Flash in a second. This didn't deter the evil speedster.

"What do you want?" Barry demanded. "What are you?"

"Flaaaaaaaaash," the thing repeated, Cisco scrambling to his feet behind the thing, a look of fear in his face as he moved around it to join Harry.

"What are you?" Wally now repeated, moving cautiously next to Barry, shielding his girlfriend completely now, trying to tackle his inert fear of this thing too.

"Deeeeeeeeeath," the thing gurgled, it floating slightly left and right, reminding Barry of one of those Wraiths he had encountered a few months ago – the very creatures that had tuned Zoom into this… thing.

"Why are you haunting us?" Wally now asked; the one most affected by the dreams in spite of his words to the contrary.

"Flaaaaaaaash. Deeeeeeeeead," the thing replied, moving as if it were assessing the two in front of it.

"Not one on vocabulary, is it?" Cisco stated, a little braver than he felt as the Black Flash turned its head slowly toward Cisco, who took a step back in worry now.

"Briiiiiiing Flaaaaaaaash." It now said to Cisco before looking back at the Flashes.

"I think it thinks you're dead, man." Cisco now added to Barry, his voice quivering as the thing suddenly moved, circling the three Flashes, quickly gaining momentum as Wally and Jesse moved closer to each other but Barry knew exactly what to do he streaked forward and punched the Black Flash, forcing it backward as he cried aloud;

"You wanna get me? Come and catch me!" And he ran, not thinking as he sped to the pipeline, running passed surprised ARGUS guards and their captive meta-humans as the Black Flash followed him. He realised, a little too late, that he was recreating the dream as he gained speed, but the Black Flash kept up with him, just inches behind him as he heard Wally in his coms;

"Barry, Cisco's going to open a breach to send this Black Flash back to where it came from, just be ready okay?"

"Always ready!" Barry called, looking over his shoulder to see that the Black Flash was almost right on him, he hesitated, tripped and… vanished.

"Barry?" Wally asked, looking to the monitor Caitlin used to see his vitals, but there were no readings; he glanced to Jesse and then Harry in worry, they back in the Cortex already. "Barry?!"

"He gone," Jesse's voice was hollow as Harry moved next to Wally, pushing the boy unceremoniously out of the way as he went to type on the computer.

"Ramone." He now spoke into the coms, Cisco by the entrance to the pipeline, goggles on, waiting for the get-go. "Allen and Zoom have gone."

"What?" Cisco's voice could be heard. "What do you mean gone? Where've they gone?"

"I don't know. They've just… gone." Harry's voice was now hollow as he stared at the readings. "I'm pulling up security footage from the pipeline… It looks like Zoom took Allen through a breach of its own making…"

"But that's impossible!" Cisco, down by the entrance, pulled up data on the monitor himself, reviewing the footage Harry was telling him. "Where the hell did it take him to?"

"Black Flash said about death and being dead," Jesse's voice was shaking, "could he have…?"

"I've got to vibe for him," Cisco called, "It happened last time, it would happen again. I just need something of his… Hang on." As they heard Cisco moving away, Harry typing desperately on the computer, Wally pulled Jesse away.

"This is our fault!" He told her in earnest whisper.

"Cisco will find him; we'll get him back," Jesse stated defiantly.

"And what if he can't?" Wally asked.

"We find him ourselves."

"What?" Wally asked in surprise.

"Together we might be powerful enough to breach through the universal barrier, like Barry did to find Kara; maybe Black Flash took him to another earth, some sort of twisted lesson or something. We just need to run fast enough, concentrate on Barry – we're connected to the speed-force after all!"

"See what Cisco comes up with first though?" Wally asked, glancing to the entrance of the Cortex as Cisco turned up, panting.

"Of course," Jesse muttered, moving back toward her dad like nothing had happened.

Cisco had in his hand a piece of Barry's costume – the mask from one of his earlier Flash outfits as he waved it to the small group. "The only thing I could find at such short notice," he explained as he stopped just before the computer banks and pulled the goggles back down from his forehead. "Here goes nothing."

-PowerFlash-

"What do you mean Barry's gone?" Kara had come straight to the Labs after work; she wanted to check up on her cellular acceleration pattern, to see if she had soaked up enough yellow sunlight during her day – Cat hadn't been helpful in restoring her token girl's powers, the stresses she was putting on Kara, not that she knew Kara was Power Girl, after all. "We were going to go skating later…"

"Skating?" Jesse asked with a little smirk. She had been worried all afternoon – when Cisco's vibe had come up blank, her next thought had been on Kara, and with Wally getting on board with the plan, he had started insisting they take the reins and find Barry themselves. She, however, had been more and more cautious, to say the least, but now Kara was with her, now she could see the worry in her sister's expression as Cisco and Harry explained it to her… well, Jesse's heart broke for her sister.

"So Zoom, under the alias of Black Flash, took Barry god knows where," Kara finally stated, "and I wasn't called in for backup?"

"You're still weak, you couldn't have done anything," Harry stated, a little too bluntly.

"Well, just be glad I'm still weak as I will kill Maxwell Lord for making me like this today and not being able to help Barry when I should have been there. Hell, I'll kill Cat too as punishment for her twisted view on personal assisting!" She hit her hand on the table and winced, not used to the pain it caused her. Secretly she was mad at her mentor, Alex, too – if it wasn't for her insistence on using the solar flare, the four superheroes could have come up with an alternative plan to stop the Red Tornado so she wouldn't have been so human today, but Maxwell Lord was the main cause of her problem – he had made three Red Tornados, after all.

"Hey, Kara, calm down. We'll get him back," Jesse rounded on her sister now, putting a hand on Kara's shoulder and pulling her other hand into hers, Kara meeting her sister's eyes as Jesse added: "I promise…" she pulled away from Kara, her mind set as she glanced at Wally and nodded.

"What… what are you guys planning?" Cisco asked, worried now. "Cos I couldn't find either Barry or Black Flash so if you think you're going after them…"

"You may be able to open breaches to other earths, see into the void between them and vibe people's locations, but you'll never be connected to the speed-force like we are," Wally stated coolly, Cisco frowning as the two suddenly sped from the room.

"It's not that easy!" Harry called, running to the computer banks now as Cisco took to his side and Kara moved behind them, still massaging her hand. "They're in the pipeline!" Harry now called, pressing the coms button so to speak to his daughter and her boyfriend. "Jesse, this won't work! Barry may not be on another world; he may not be anywhere."

"We'll find him dad; we can't just leave him to the Black Flash's fate. This is what we dreamed about, Wally and me, chasing the Black Flash, getting Barry back because we will, we'll find him. Kara, you'll go skating with Barry soon, I promise you."

"Jesse!" Harry called into the coms, "please, we can find another way!"

"They're running," Cisco stated, a little hollow himself now, "you don't think they'd open a breach already though? It took Barry a whole year before he could and that was by accident."

"Allen wasn't trying to open breaches though," Harry pointed out, "Jesse and Wally are!"

"They've just broken the sound barrier," Kara stated, a little excitedly as they felt the facility rock with the sonic boom they'd created in the pipeline.

"Do they realise how dangerous this is with the metas still in lock up?" Cisco pointed out as a warning alarm sounded; several of the cells had broken upon the contained sonic boom. "I hope ARGUS and Alex are alert, cos we have five out of containment. And there's a breach opening!" Cisco couldn't contain his excitement either now.

"Jesse, please, we'll think of another way, don't do this!" Harry now cried, not wanting to lose his daughter in some hapless attempt at finding Barry.

"I'm doing this for Kara, dad. And Cisco… come find us," Jesse replied as the communication cut out; Quick and Silver having vanished through the breach they had created.

"Jesse?" Harry called, "Jesse?!" he tried again.

"They've gone…" Cisco stated in shock as he slowly swivelled to face Kara. "God, I hope they find him. I hope I can find  _them_ … we need to get everyone back – this may cause complications."

"Metas on the loose, all three Flashes gone and Power Girl still powerless?" Kara stated, her heart now dropping as she realised aloud the complications Cisco meant. "We're doomed."


End file.
